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BV  230  .087  1913 

Ottley,  Robert  L. 

The  rule  of  work  and  worship 


LCIQ5 


By  the  Rev.  Canon 

R.  L.  OTTLEY,  D.D. 

Uniform  with 

The 

iuLE   OF  Work  and 

Worship. 

THE 

RULE  OF  FAITH 

AND 

HOPE. 

THE 

RULE    OF     LIFE 

AND 

LOVE. 

Demy  8vo, 

NEW  YORK : 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY.        1 

Xibrat^g  of  Ibistorfc  ^beolog^ 

EDITED   BY  THE   REV.   WM.    C.    PIERCY,   M.A. 

DEAN  AND  CHAPLAIN   OF   WHITELAMDS    COLLEGE 


THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND 
WORSHIP 

ROBERT    LAWRENCE   OTTLEY,    D.D. 


"^.IBRARY    OF    HISTORIC    THEOLOGY 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  C.  PIERCY,  M.A. 
VOLUMES    NOW    READY. 

THE  PRESENT  RELATIONS  OF  SCIENCE  AND  RELIGION. 

By  the  Rev.  Professor  T.  G.  Bonmhy,  D.Sc, 
ARCHAEOLOGY  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

By  Professor  Edouard  Navii^le,  D.C.L. 
XrYSTICISM   IN   CHRISTIANITY. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  K.  Flemiko,  M.A.,  B.D. 
RELIGION  IN  AN  AGE  OF  DOUBT. 

By  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Shebbeare,  M.A. 
THE  CATHOLIC    CONCEPTION  OF  THE   CHURCH. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Sparrow  Simpsom,  D.D. 
COMMON  OBJECTIONS  .TO  CHRISTIANITY.     By  the  Rev.  C  L.  Drawbridge,  M. A 
MARRIAGE  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE, 

By  the  Rev,  T,  A.  Lacey,  M.A.  (Warden  of  the  London  Diocesan  Penitentiary), 
THE  BUILDING  UP  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

By  the  Rev.  Canon  R.  B.  Girdlestone,   M.A. 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER   FAITHS.     An  Essay  in  Comparative  Religion. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  D.D. 
THE  CHURCHES  IN  BRITAIN.  Vols.  I.  and  //, 

By  the  Rev.  Abfred  Plcmmer,  D.D,  (formerly  Master  of  University  College,  Durham), 
CHARACTER  AND  RELIGION. 

By  the  Rev,  the  Hon,  Edward  Lystehtom,  M.A,    (Head  Master  of  Eton  College), 
MISSIONARY  METHODS,  ST,  PAUL'S  OR  OURS  ? 

By  the  Rev,  Roland  Ahlen,  M,A,  (Author  of  "  Missionary  Principles "). 
THE  RULE  OF  FAITH  AND  HOPE, 

By  the  Rev.  R.  L.  Ottoey,  D.D.  (Canon  of  Christ  Church,  aad  Regius  Professor 
of  Pastoral  Theology  in  the  University  of  Oxford). 
THE  RULE  OF  LIFE  AND  LOVE, 

By  the  Rev,  R.  L.  Ottley,  D.D. 
THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP. 

By  the  Rev.  R.  L.  Ottbeyj  D.D. 
WHE  CREEDS  i    THEIR  HISTORY,  NATURE  AND  USE, 

By  the  Rev,  Harold  Smith,  M.A,  (Lecturer  at  the  London  College  of  Divinity), 
THE  CHRISTOLOGY  OF  ST,  PAUL  (Hulsean  Prize  Essay). 

By  the  Rev,  S,  Nowelb  Rostrom,M.A,  (Late  Principal  of  St,  John's  Hall,  Durham), ; 

The  following  works  are  in  Preparation : — 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  I     ITS  PAST,        AUTHORITY  AND  FREETHOUGHT 
PRESENT,  AND    FUTURE.  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

By  the  Rev.  Prebendary  B.  Reynolds,  By  the  Rev.  F,  W.  BossE»ft,  D.D, 

xtnj  ruTToru  r.iTTCTr.T7  xutj  pmctdtj  ^OD  AND  MAN,  ONE  CHRIST. 

THE  CHURCH  OUTSIDE  THE  EMPIRE.  3    ^he  Rev.  Charles  E.  Raveb,  M.A . 

By  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Davey  Biggs,  D.D.  "^                                                  ' 

GREEK  THOUGHT  AND 

THE  NATURE  OF  FAITH  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE. 

CONDITIONS  OF  ITS   PROSPERITY.  By  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Mozley,  M.A. 

By  the  Rev.  P,  N.  Waggett,  M.A.  xHE  GREAT  SCHISM  BETWEEN 

THE  ETHICS  OF  TEMPTATION,  ^^E  EAST  AND  WEST. 

By  the  Ven.  E.  E,  Holmes,  M.A.  ^^  '*'*  ^^"^  ^-  J-  Foa^m- Jackson,  D.D. 

EARLY  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  '^  tIstImENT  H^STORy!^ 

By  the  Rev,  Wm,  C.  Piercy,  M.A,  By  the  Rev.  A.  Troelstra,  D.D. 

Full  particulars  of  this  Library  may  be  obtained  from  the  Publisher. 
NEW  YORK :  FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY. 


THE   RULE   OF  WORK 
AND  WORSHIP 

AN    EXPOSITION    OF    THE    LORD'S 

PRAYER  /  r :    '..  '  6r  ^^M&> 

/\>'  '^^ 

FEB  27  1920 

BY  THE  REV. 

ROBERT    LAWRENCE  OTTLEY,  D.D 

CANON    OF    CHRIST    CHURCH 
HON.    FELLOW   OF   PEMBROKE    COLLEGE,    OXFORD 


Domine  ad  quem  ibimus  ? 
Verba  vitae  aeternae  habes. 


NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 

FLEMING    H.    REVELL    COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


CONIVGI   DILECTISSIMAE 


EDITOR'S  GENERAL  PREFACE 

IN  no  branch  of  human  knowledge  has  there  been  a  more 
lively  increase  of  the  spirit  of  research  during  the  past  few 
years  than  in  the  study  of  Theology. 

Many  points  of  doctrine  have  been  passing  afresh  through 
the  crucible  ;  "  re-statement  "  is  a  popular  cry  and,  in  some 
directions,  a  real  requirement  of  the  age ;  the  additions  to 
our  actual  materials,  both  £is  regards  ancient  manuscripts  and 
archaeological  discoveries,  have  never  before  been  so  great  as 
in  recent  years  ;  linguistic  knowledge  has  advanced  with  the 
fuller  possibihties  provided  by  the  constant  addition  of  more 
data  for  comparative  study;  cuneiform  inscriptions  have  been 
deciphered,  and  forgotten  peoples,  records,  and  even  tongues, 
revealed  anew  as  the  outcome  of  diligent,  skilful  and  devoted 
study. 

Scholars  have  speciaUzed  to  so  great  an  extent  that  many  con- 
clusions are  less  speculative  than  they  were,  while  many  more 
aids  are  thus  available  for  arriving  at  a  general  judgment ;  and, 
in  some  directions  at  least,  the  time  for  drawing  such  general 
conclusions,  and  so  making  practical  use  of  such  specialized 
research,  seems  to  have  come,  or  to  be  close  at  hand. 

Many  people,  therefore,  including  the  large  mass  of  the  parochial 
clergy  and  students,  desire  to  have  in  an  accessible  form  a  review 
of  the  results  of  this  flood  of  new  light  on  many  topics  that  are  of 
living  and  vital  interest  to  the  Faith ;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
"  practical  "  questions — by  which  is  really  denoted  merely  the 
application  of  faith  to  life  and  to  the  needs  of  the  day— have 
certainly  lost  none  of  their  interest,  but  rather  loom  larger  than 
ever  if  the  Church  is  adequately  to  fulfil  her  Mission. 

It  thus  seems  an  appropriate  time  for  the  issue  of  a  new  series 
of  theological  works,  which  shall  aim  at  presenting  a  general 
survey  of  the  present  position  of  thought  and  knowledge  in 
various  branches  of  the  wide  field  which  is  included  in  the  study 
of  divinity. 


X  EDITOR'S   GENERAL   PREFACE 

The  Library  of  Historic  Theology  is  designed  to  supply  such 
a  series,  written  by  men  of  known  reputation  as  thinkers  and 
scholars,  teachers  and  divines,  who  are,  one  and  all,  firm  upholders 
of  the  Faith. 

It  will  not  deal  merely  with  doctrinal  subjects,  though  pro- 
minence will  be  given  to  these  ;  but  great  importance  will  be 
attached  also  to  history — the  sure  foundation  of  all  progressive 
knowledge — and  even  the  more  strictly  doctrinal  subjects  will 
be  largely  dealt  with  from  this  point  of  view,  a  point  of  view  the 
value  of  which  in  regard  to  the  "  practical  "  subjects  is  too 
obvious  to  need  emphasis. 

It  would  be  clearly  outside  the  scope  of  this  series  to  deal  with 
individual  books  of  the  Bible  or  of  later  Christian  writings,  with 
the  Uves  of  individuals,  or  with  merely  minor  (and  often  highly 
controversial)  points  of  Church  governance,  except  in  so  far  as 
these  come  into  the  general  review  of  the  situation.  This  de- 
tailed study,  invaluable  as  it  is,  is  already  abundant  in  many 
series  of  commentaries,  texts,  biographies,  dictionaries  and  mono- 
graphs, and  would  overload  far  too  heavily  such  a  series  as  the 
present. 

The  Editor  desires  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  the 
various  contributors  to  the  series  have  no  responsibiUty  whatso- 
ever for  the  conclusions  or  particular  views  expressed  in  any 
volumes  other  than  their  own,  and  that  he  himself  has  not  felt 
that  it  comes  within  the  scope  of  an  editor's  work,  in  a  series  of 
this  kind,  to  interfere  with  the  personal  views  of  the  writers.  He 
must,  therefore,  leave  to  them  their  full  responsibility  for  their 
own  conclusions. 

Shades  of  opinion  and  differences  of  judgment  must  exist,  if 
thought  is  not  to  be  at  a  standstill — petrified  into  an  unpro- 
ductive fossil ;  but  while  neither  the  Editor  nor  all  their  readers 
can  be  expected  to  agree  with  every  point  of  view  in  the  details 
of  the  discussions  in  all  these  volumes,  he  is  convinced  that  the 
great  principles  which  lie  behind  every  volume  are  such  as  must 
conduce  to  the  strengthening  of  the  Faith  and  to  the  glory  of 
God. 

That  this  may  be  so  is  the  one  desire  of  Editor  and  contributors 
alike. 

W.  C.  P. 

London. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 

PAGE 

St.  Luke's 'Version  of  the  Prayer  probably  the  original  i 

I     The  Lord's  Prayer — in  what  sense  so  called         .          .  2 

Christ  Himself  the  pattern  of  the  spirit  of  prayer         .  3 
II     Different  aspects  of  our  Lord's  life — 

(i)  A  life  of  perfect  dependence.          ....  6 

(2)  A  life  of  temptation      ......  8 

(3)  A  life  of  filial  response  to  vocation         ...  10 

(4)  A  hfe  perfected  through  sufferings  .  •  .12 

III  The  teaching  of  our  Lord  concerning  prayer  illustrated 

by  His  example       .......        14 

(i)  The  legitimate  objects  of  prayer    .  .  .  .17 

(2)  The  conditions  of  acceptable  prayer       .  .  .17 

(3)  Spiritual  aids  to  prayer  .....        19 

IV  The  Prayer  taught  by  One  Who  is  '  Lord  '  and  therefore 

of  unique  authority  .  .  .  .  .  .21 

It  implies  the  duty  of  intercession       ....       22 

the  due  order  of  our  petitions  .  .  .  .23 

the  essential  simplicity  of  religion    ....       24 

Note.    The  sufficiency  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  ...       26 

CHAPTER    II 

PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN  RELIGION 

Relation  of  prayer  to  religion     .  .  .  .  .27 

I     Prayer  the  essential  act  of  religion      ....       29 

II     The  idea  of  God  underlying  prayer     .  .  .  .31 

Prayer  is  primarily    converse,  secondarily   petition  .       32 

xi 


xu 


CONTENTS 


III    The  rightful  objects  of  prayer  as  implied  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer   ...... 

The  subjective  efiect  of  prayer  . 
Its  objective  efl&cacy. 
Prayer  for  temporal  blessings  legitimate 
The  spiritual  experience  of  Christendom 
Note.     Relation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  the  Teaching  of  the 
Old  Testament         ........ 


PAGE 

35 
36 
37 
38 
42 


44 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  USE  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  CHRISTIAN 
WORSHIP 

Connexion  between  the  Prayer  and  Jewish  formularies 
I     Early  evidence  of  its  use  in  private  devotion 
in  the  instruction  of  catechumens    . 
in  public  worship   ..... 
Twofold  use  of  the  Prayer  in  worship 
II     Place  of  the  Prayer  in  the  Eucharistic  service 
(i)  Its  use  in  connexion  with  the  canon 

(2)  Its  use  as  a  preparatory  devotion 

(3)  and  as  an  act  of  thanksgiving 
Ancient  prefaces  to  the  Lord's  Prayer 
The  Embolism   ...... 

Note  A.     The  significance  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  office  of 

preparation  for  Communion     .... 
Note  B.     The  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Canon  . 
Note  C.     Evidence  of  the  book  de  sacramentis 
Note  D.     The  Embolism  {Roman  and  Sarum) 


46 
48 
49 
50 
50 
52 
52 
54 
55 
56 
57 

58 
58 
59 
59 


CHAPTER    IV 

OUR  FATHER,  WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN  '  (St.  Matthew) 
'  FATHER  '  (St.  Luke) 


Jewish  use  of  the  title  '  Father  ' 

Our  Lord's  doctrine  of  the  divine  Fatherhood 

Virtually  a  new  revelation  of  Deity 

The  sense  of  divine  sonship     . 

Infinite  significance  of  the  title  '  Father  ' 


60 
61 
62 
63 
64 


CONTENTS 


Xlll 


II 


III 

Note 


The  teaching  of  this  clause — 

(i)  Confidence  in  the  power  of  prayer 

(2)  Faith  in  God's  impartial  love 

(3)  The  imitation  of  God    .... 

(4)  Holy  fear  and  the  spirit  of  penitence    . 
Intercessory  significance  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
.     The  Fatherhood  of  God  (W.  E.  Channing) 


PAGE 

66 
67 
69 
71 
73 
75 


CHAPTER    V 

'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'   (St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

Meaning  of  the  '  Name  '  of  God          ....  76 

I     The  progressive  self-revelation  of  God          ...  78 
The  passage  Exodus  xxxiv.  6,  7           .          .          .          .80 

Revelation  of  the  divine  Name  in  Christ     ...  83 

II     God's  people  called  to  '  glorify  '  His  Name           .          .  84 

(i)  by  the  confession  of  a  true  faith  ....  85 

(2)  by  the  spirit  of  worship         .....  87 

(3)  by  holiness  of  character         .....  89 

(4)  by  recollection  of  the  divine  presence    .          .          .  92 

(5)  t>y  truthfulness  in  speech      .....  93 
III    The  petition  a  prayer  for  the  unity  of  the  Church      .  94 


CHAPTER   VI 
'  THY  KINGDOM  COME  '  (St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

Connexion  of  this  clause  with  that  which  follows 
I    The  '  Kingdom  of  God  '  in  Jewish  thought 
II     Defects  of  the  later  Jewish  idea  of  the  Kingdom 

Transformation  of  Jewish  ideals  in  the  Gospel     . 
Ill     '  Thy  Kingdom  come  '  a  petition — 

(i)  for  a  true  repentance   . 

(2)  for  personal  sanctification 
Comment  of  Gregory  of  Nyssa   . 

(3)  for  the  salvation  of  mankind 

(4)  for  the  perfecting  of  the  Church  . 
Our  Lord's  anticipation  of  the  future 
Intercession  for  God's  ancient  people  . 

IV    The  temper  of  Christian  expectancy   . 


96 

97 
100 

lOI 

102 
104 

105 
107 

113 
113 
"7 
118 


XIV 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    VII 

THY  WILL    BE    DONE  AS  IN  HEAVEN,   SO  ON  EARTH' 
(St.  ]Matthew) 


This  clause  primarily  an  utterance  of  submission 
and  of  unworldliness        ..... 
I     The  revelation  of  the  divine  will — 
(i)  in  Nature     ..... 

(2)  in  Reason  and  Conscience 

(3)  in  History    ..... 

(4)  in  the  Personality  of  Christ  . 
II     This  petition  a  prayer — 

(i)  for  a  true  conversion    . 

(2)  for  spiritual  intelligence 

(3)  for  perseverance    .... 
Ill     This  petition  a  summary  of  all  prayer 

CHAPTER    VIII 

•  GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD  ' 

(St.  Matthew) 

•GIVE  US  DAY  BY  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD 

(St.  Luke) 

I     The  doubtful  interpretation  of  this  clause 
It  expresses  the  spirit  of  dependence 
II     Characteristics  of  the  petition — 
(i)  Unworldliness 

(2)  Simplicity     . 

(3)  Unselfishness 

(4)  Spirituality  . 
The  Bread  of  the  Eucharist 

III     God  Himself  the  response  to  this  petition 
Note.     Comment  of  Swami  Ram  Tirath  on  this  clause 


PAGE 
121 
123 

124 
126 
126 
127 

129 
137 


140 
141 

142 
144 
146 
149 

153 


CHAPTER    IX 

'  AND  FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS, 
FORGIVEN  OUR  DEBTORS 

•  AND  FORGIVE  US  OUR  SINS  : 
ALSO  FORGIVE  EVERY  ONE 
TO  US'  (St.  Luke) 

I     Original  form  of  the  petition 


AS  WE  ALSO  HAVE 

(St.  Matthew) 

FOR  WE  OURSELVES 
THAT    IS    INDEBTED 

.  .  ,  .      156 


CONTENTS 


XV 


II     The  constant  need  of  forgiveness         .  . 

The  reality  and  seriousness  of  sin 
Two   different  aspects  of  God's  relationship  to  man 
III     The  sense  of  sin — ^how  may  it  be  deepened  and  enlarged  ? 
(i)  through  the  experience  of  life 

(2)  through  recollection  of  our  sonship 

(3)  through  the  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
IV    The  call  to  corporate  penitence  . 

V  The  conditions  and  effects  of  divine  forgiveness 
(i)  Repentance  and  readiness  to  forgive  others 
(2)  The  meaning  of  '  remission  of  sins  ' 

Note.     The  moral  fruits  of  forgiveness 

CHAPTER   X 

'AND  BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION' 
(St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

The  significance  and  form  of  the  petition 
I     Sources  of  temptation — 

The  weakness  of  human  nature 
II     The  activity  of  '  the  evil  one  '    . 
Ill     Unselfishness  of  the  petition 
IV    The  conflict  with  temptation — 

Need  of  watchfulness  and  prayer 
Note.     The  Psychology  of  Temptation 

CHAPTER    XI 

•  BUT  DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE  ' 

(St.  Matthew) 

The  clause  speaks  of  a  personal  being 
I     Nature  of  the  '  evil '  from  which  we  seek  deliverance 
Personality  of  Satan    .         .  .  .  .  .  , 

II     The  petition  an  act  of  faith  in  the  divine  victory  over  evil 
Deliverance  from  evil  '  in  Christ  '        .  .  .  , 

III     Intercessory  aspect  of  the  petition       .  .  .  , 

IV    The  experience  of  deliverance  from  evil 

The  ministry  of  angels        ...... 

V  The  petition  unites  us  to  Christ  suffering    . 


PAGE 

160 
161 
162 
164 
165 
166 
169 
169 
172 
176 


177 

180 
184 
187 

188 
190 


192 
194 

199 
200 
201 
202 
204 
208 


XVI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XII 

•FOR  THINE  IS  THE  KINGDOM,  THE  POWER  AND 
THE  GLORY,   FOR  EVER  AND  EVER.     AMEN.' 

PAGE 

The  Doxology  a  liturgical  addition      ....     209 
I     The  significance  of  the  Doxology — 

(i)  a  link  between  present  and  future  .  .  .211 

(2)  a  compendium  of  the  truths  implied  in  the  Prayer    2H 

II     Prayer  means  acceptance  of  the  divine  purpose  .  ,212 

faith  in  the  divine  power         .  .  .  .  .212 

trust  in  the  divine  character  .  .  .  .  .213 

'  For  ever  and  ever  '  :  the  voice  of  hope     .  .  .213 

III     Different  uses  of  '  Amen  '  in  Scripture — 

(i)  a  pledge  of  the  divine  faithfulness  .  .  .214 

(2)  the  response  of  man  to  God's  purpose  .  .         -215 

(3)  an  utterance  of  praise  .  .  .  .  .  .217 

Conclusion  ........     218 

APPENDIX 
THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 


I 

In  the  Gospels  . 

. 

2ig 

II 

In  the  Didache  . 

. 

219 

III 

In  Cyril  of  Jerusalem 

220 

IV 

In  the  Latin  Fathers  and 

Versions  of  the  N.T. — 

(i)  TertuUian     . 

. 

220 

(2)  Cyprian 

. 

221 

(3)  Augustine     . 

. 

221 

(4)  Old  Latin  Versions 

.... 

221 

(5)  the  Vulgate. 

. 

222 

V 

Old  EngUsh  Versions — 

(i)  The  Ayenhite  of  Inwyt 

. 

223 

(2)  A  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century  .... 

223 

(3)  A  MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century  .... 

224 

(4)  WycUf's  Translation 

224 

(5)  A  prymer  of  the  fifteenth  century 

224 

(6)  T.  Matthew's  Bible 

...... 

225 

(7)  The  Great  Bible  . 

. 

225 

(8)  The  Bishops'  Bible 

. 

226 

(9)  The  Rheims  Version 

. 

226 

VI 

Exposition  of  the   Lord's 

Prayer  in  the   Lay   Folks' 

Catechism 

•          .          .         • 

227 

Index 

.          * 

231 

The  Rule  of  Work  and  Worship 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 

•Etiam  Ipse  Dominus   oravit,  cui  sit  honor  et  gloria  in  sagcula  saecul- 
oram. ' — Tertullian  . 

TWO  versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  are  found  in  the 
Synoptic  Gospels,  and  of  these  the  shorter  form  re- 
corded by  St.  Luke  (xi.  1-4)  is  in  all  probability  the  earlier. 
Moreover,  the  actual  occasion  on  which  the  Prayer  was 
first  delivered  to  the  disciples  by  our  Lord  may  well  have 
been  that  which  St.  Luke's  narrative  suggests.  It  came 
to  pass,  as  He  was  praying  in  a  certain  place,  that  when 
He  ceased,  one  of  His  disciples  said  unto  Him,  Lord,  teach  us 
to  pray  even  as  John  also  taught  his  disciples.  It  is  true 
that  the  evangelist  mentions  no  details  either  of  time  or  of 
place  ;  but  the  incident  is  one  which  he  would  not  have  been 
likely  to  invent,  and  in  default  of  any  other  evidence  we 
may  well  believe  that  the  form  which  he  preserves  is  that 
which  was  originally  taught  by  Christ,  in  response  appar- 
ently to  the  request  of  a  disciple  who  may  have  been,  as 
the  context  seems  to  suggest,  one  of  the  seventy  disciples 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter  of  the  Gospel. 

But  if  the  shorter  version  given  by  St.  Luke  is  the  original, 
the  expanded  form  which  we  find  inserted  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  (St.  Matt.  vi.  9  foil.)  has  actually  been  the  more 
authoritative    and   influential.    It    has    more    completely 

1  B 


2         THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

satisfied  the  religious  needs  and  aspirations  of  Christian 
people.  In  all  probability  the  prayer  was  originally  given 
in  Aramaic,  but  it  was  doubtless  very  soon  translated  into 
Greek  for  use  in  Hellenistic  congregations  at  Jerusalem 
and  elsewhere  ;  and  the  version  contained  in  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel  seems  to  represent  a  form  which  had  already  for 
some  time  been  current  among  Greek-speaking  Christians.* 
We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  even  the  fuller  form 
given  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  commended  to  the 
disciples  rather  as  a  comprehensive  type  or  outline  of 
prayer  than  as  a  precise  and  complete  formula,  since  it  is 
introduced  by  the  significant  words.  After  this  manner 
{ovrws)  pray  ye  :  that  is,  not  necessarily  in  these  very 
words,  but  at  least  in  this  simple  manner  and  in  this  filial 
spirit ;  not,  like  the  heathen,  mechanically  reciting  a 
stereotyped  form,  nor  thinking  to  weary  the  Almighty 
into  granting  your  requests  by  much  speaking  or  by  vain 
repetitions,  but  commending  yourselves,  with  all  your 
desires  and  needs,  to  the  love  and  wisdom  of  a  heavenly 
Father. 


Two  things  may  fittingly  be  noticed  at  the  outset  of  our 
study. 

I.  First,  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  rightly  so  called  as  having 
been  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  to  His  disciples,  but  it  was  not 
a  prayer  intended  for  His  own  use.  The  most  typical 
*  Lord's  prayer  '  in  this  sense  is  the  great  intercession 
recorded  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  the  Fourth  Gospel — 

1  If,  as  is  now  generally  believed  by  scholars,  our  present  Gospel 
of  St.  Matthew  incorporates  (a)  the  substance  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel 
and  {b)  that  of  a  possibly  older  document  consisting  mainly  of  dis- 
courses (Q),  it  seems  most  probable  that  the  compiler  of  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel  derived  his  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  from  this  latter 
source. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   3 

a  passage  which  stands  alone  as  a  kind  of  sanctuary  in  the 
temple  of  Holy  Scripture,  but  which  nevertheless  has 
several  points  of  contact  with  the  '  Our  Father,'  Thus  in 
St.  John  xvii.  our  Lord  addresses  God  as  Father,  Righteous 
Father ;  He  makes  mention  of  the  sacred  Name  of  God  as 
that  which  He  has  ever  manifested  on  earth  and  will  yet 
make  known  to  His  chosen  ;  He  speaks  of  the  authority 
over  all  flesh  bestowed  upon  Him  as  Founder  of  the  divine 
kingdom  ;  He  renews  on  the  eve  of  His  Passion  that  entire 
consecration  of  Himself  to  the  will  and  service  of  God 
which  has  been  the  unfailing  law  of  His  life.  Again,  the 
unity  which  He  seeks  for  His  Church  is  the  counterpart 
on  earth  of  that  which  is  in  heaven ;  that  they  may  he  one, 
He  asks,  even  as  We  are  one.  Finally,  He  prays  that  those 
whom  the  Father  has  given  Him  may  be  guarded,  while 
they  are  in  the  world,  from  the  power  of  the  evil  one.  The 
prayer  as  a  whole  manifestly  breathes  the  very  spirit  of 
the  '  Lord's  Prayer  '  :  its  confidence,  its  loyalty,  its  sub- 
missiveness,  its  repose.  Moreover,  it  suggests  to  us  a  line 
of  thought  which  will  be  pursued  below  :  namely,  that  our 
Lord's  own  life  is  the  only  adequate  commentary  on  the 
prayer  which  He  taught,  and  that,  in  particular,  the  narra- 
tive of  the  Passion  is  intended  to  recall  the  great  truths 
of  faith  which  underlie  its  familiar  petitions  :  the  mystery 
of  the  divine  Fatherhood  :  the  truth  that  man's  life  on 
earth  is  a  warfare  with  temptation  and  an  opportunity 
of  winning  the  victory  over  the  frince  of  the  world.^ 

2.  Secondly,  we  may  note  the  instructive  circumstance, 
mentioned  by  St.  Luke,  that  immediately  before  He  taught 
His  disciples  the  '  Lord's  Prayer  '  Christ  was  praying  in 
a  certain  place.  The  same  thing  is  recorded  of  Him  on  the 
occasion  of  St,  Peter's  great  confession  of  faith  :  He  was 
praying  alone,  we  read,  and  the  disciples  were  with  Him.^ 
^   John  xiv.  30.  *  Luke  ix.  18. 


4    THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

St.  Luke,  as  we  know,  repeatedly  notices  the  fact  that 
prayer  was  the  habit  of  the  Saviour's  hfe.  It  was  while 
He  was  in  the  very  act  of  praying  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
descended  upon  Him  at  His  baptism  ;  as  He  was  praying 
the  fashion  of  His  countenance  was  altered  upon  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration.^  These  specially  recorded  instances 
of  prayer  were  doubtless  occasions  of  solemn  import  for 
the  Church  ;  and  it  helps  us  to  realize  the  dignity  and 
blessedness  of  prayer  when  we  consider  that  our  Lord 
deliberately  prepared  Himself  for  the  task  of  instructing 
His  disciples  how  to  pray.  The  Lord's  Prayer  comes  from 
the  lips  of  One  Who  was  Himself  the  supreme  example  of 
the  spirit  of  prayer ;  W  ho  through  unbroken  communion 
with  the  Father,  and  through  His  unerring  knowledge  of 
what  was  in  man,  was  uniquely  qualified  to  teach  His  brethren 
a  form  of  utterance  adequate  to  their  needs.  The  efficacy 
of  prayer  is  a  subject  sometimes  very  lightly  and  incon- 
siderately discussed.  W  e  should  constantly  remember 
that  prayer — communion  with  the  high  and  lofty  One  that 
inhabiteth  eternity,  Whose  name  is  Holy^ — is  the  most 
exalted  function  of  which  man  is  capable  :  that  for  which 
he  was  created  :  that  which  alone  raises  him  to  the  true 
level  of  his  destiny.  If  this  conception  of  prayer  is  just, 
it  is  only  the  spiritual  experts,  the  men  of  prayer,  who 
possess  the  right  to  speak  with  the  authority  of  experience, 
in  regard  to  its  meaning,  its  fruits,  its  power. 

It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  locality  in  which  the 
Lord's  Prayer  was  taught  was  the  garden  of  Gethsemane, 
whither  our  Lord  oft-times  resorted  with  His  disciples. 
This  suggestion  seems  to  be  favoured  by  the  context  of  St. 
Luke  xi.  i  foil.  ;  for  the  passage  immediately  preceding 
(x.  38-42)  gives  an  account  of  Christ's  sojourn  with  Mary 
and  Martha  at  the  neighbouring  village  of  Bethany  ;    and 

^  Luke  iii.  21;  ix.  29.  ^  jg^    ivii.   15.        3  John  xviii.  2. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   5 

there  is  certainly  nothing  to  hinder  us  from  supposing  that 
the  prayer  was  taught  in  some  place  near  Jerusalem.  This 
conjecture  is  obviously  precarious,  but  it  is  not  without 
value  if  it  leads  us  to  connect  the  Lord's  Prayer  specially 
with  the  solemn  mysteries  of  the  Agony  and  the  Passion ; 
if  it  deepens  our  sense  of  the  real  nature  and  significance 
of  the  last  dread  conflict  of  the  Redeemer's  life  on  earth. 
For  the  acceptance  of  the  bitter  cup  from  His  Father's 
hand  was  the  crowning  manifestation  of  that  spirit  of  filial 
obedience  and  trust  which  finds  its  perfect  utterance  in 
the  filial  prayer.  To  Him,  as  to  His  disciples,  prayer  was 
not  an  avenue  of  escape  from  evil  and  suffering,  but  a 
means  whereby  He  was  strengthened  to  meet  and  to  over- 
come it.  It  was  the  Son  of  Man's  supreme  act  of  confidence 
in  the  '  fatherliness  of  the  Father  '  ;  it  was  the  utterance 
of  a  faith  which  no  spiritual  darkness  could  quench,  no 
bodily  anguish  could  shake,  no  violence  of  the  evil  one 
could  subdue. 

II 

Our  Lord,  then,  teaches  the  needfulness  and  the  blessed- 
ness of  prayer  as  One  Who  Himself  ever  lives  and  acts 
in  the  spirit  of  prayer.  He  prescribes  the  due  order  and 
substance  of  our  petitions  as  One  Who  knows  the  mind 
of  God  and  the  needs  of  man.  In  every  detail  of  His  life 
on  earth  He  manifests  the  spiritual  temper  which  finds 
its  appropriate  utterance  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Made  like 
unto  His  brethren  in  all  things,  yet  without  sin,''-  He  exhibits 
in  its  ideal  perfectness  the  truth  of  that  relationship  in 
which  man  stands  to  God,  as  a  son  dependent  on  an  all- 
wise  and  loving  Father  for  the  supply  of  every  need  ;  called 
for  his  own  highest  good  to  undergo  the  discipline  of  sorrow 
and  temptation ;    privileged  to  labour  as  a  fellow-worker 

1  Heb.  ii.  17;  iv.   15. 


6    THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

with  God  in  the  extension  of  His  Kingdom,  and  finding 
his  only  true  happiness  in  entire  devotion  to  the  Father's 
service,  and  in  habitual  subjection  to  His  will.  For  prayer 
and  obedience  are  the  outward  expression,  in  temper  and 
in  action,  of  faith  in  God.  Prayer  is  the  continual  inter- 
course with  God  to  which  faith  impels  us  ;  obedience  means 
that  unreserved  acceptance  of  His  will  which  faith  suggests.  ^ 
Man  only  fulfils  the  true  law  of  his  nature  when  his  appointed 
work  is  wrought  in  God,  2  with  a  hving  trust  in  His  character 
and  a  steadfast  desire  to  embrace  His  purposes. 

In  this  connexion  we  may  profitably  consider  four  different 
aspects  of  our  Lord's  earthly  life. 

I.  In  the  first  place.  His  life  as  man  was  one  of  perfect 
dependence  on  God :  a  dependence  which  implied  not 
merely  a  passive  confidence  in  God's  protecting  care  and 
providential  control  of  events,  but  a  habit  of  expectancy, 
a  constant  watchfulness  for  tokens  of  the  divine  purpose 
and  manifestations  of  the  divine  power.  The  Son  can  do 
nothing  of  Himself  but  what  He  seeth  the  Father  doing :  ^  words 
which  do  not  suggest  a  limitation  of  the  Son's  power,  but 
describe  the  character  of  His  action.  In  all  that  our  Lord 
does  or  suffers  :  in  times  of  stress  and  of  quiescence  :  in 
the  work  of  teaching  and  in  the  display  of  wonder-working 
power.  He  is  not  alone,  because  the  Father  is  with  Him.* 
He  has  a  limitless  faith  in  the  superabundant  resources 
and  unchanging  goodwill  of  the  Father.  It  has  been 
rightly  pointed  out  that  Christ's  announcement  of  the 
consummation  of  the  Kingdom  as  being  near  at  hand  was 
'  not  prediction,  but  hope  and  expectation.'  ^  It  was  an 
expression  of  His  own  perfect  trust  in  the  power  of  God.     It 

1  Cp.  A.  G.  Hogg,  Christ's  Message  of  the  Kingdom,  p.  65  (T.  &  T. 
Clark).         2  John  iii.  21.  3  John  v.  19.  *  John  xvi.  32. 

^  Hogg,  op.  cit.,  p.  47.  Cp.  the  striking  passage  on  p.  45 : 
'  "  Hopeth  all  things  !  " — do  we  not  see  now  where  St.  Paul  got  that 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   7 

was  a  clear  indication  of  what  might  he  if  only  man's 
unbelief  did  not  hinder  the  free  fulfilment  of  the  divine 
purpose. 

This  invincible  confidence  in  the  goodwill  of  Almighty 
God  is  the  very  spirit  which  finds  utterance  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  It  is  the  spirit  which  looks  at  all  life  in  the  light 
of  the  divine  Fatherhood,  and  which  discerns  in  the  common 
elements  of  average  human  experience — prayer  and  toil, 
temptation  and  suffering  so  many  links  of  union  with 
God ;  so  many  invitations  to  seek  guidance,  strength  and 
solace  from  Him.  To  Christ,  the  unfailing  consciousness 
of  dependence  on  the  Father  is  a  motive  impelling  Him  to 
labour,  nerving  Him  for  endurance,  inspiring  continually 
a  sense  of  security  and  a  spirit  of  repose.  Life  as  a  whole 
— whether  manifested  in  nature,  or  in  the  phenomena  of 
human  thought  and  activity — lies  open  before  Him  in  all 
its  solemnity  and  mystery  :  overshadowed  by  the  presence, 
and  pervaded  by  the  Spirit,  of  the  living  God.  In  responding 
whole-heartedly  to  the  Father's  will  and  purpose,  the  Son 
of  Man  penetrates  the  very  secret  of  the  universe  :  finds 
Himself  in  harmony  with  the  law  that  guides  its  movement 
and  shapes  its  destiny.  This  spirit  of  filial  dependence 
inspires  in  Him  not  only  love  for  all  that  God  has  made, 
but  a  reverence  which  discerns,  even  in  things  least  and 
lowest,  tokens  of  the  majesty  and  tenderness  of  the  great 
Creator.  To  Christ  even  the  most  forlorn  and  pitiable  of 
human  kind  is  a  lost  child  of  the  one  God  and  Father  of 
all.  In  the  spirit  of  prayer  He  ministers  to  men ;  He 
assures  them  that  His  Father  is  their  Father — His  God 

great  thought  about  true  Christian  love  ?  Our  Lord  loved  man 
as  none  other  ever  did.  Therefore  He  had  the  eyes  to  see  in  the 
unlovely  men  of  His  day  possibilities  of  a  faith  so  perfect  as  to 
permit  the  Father  to  usher  in  the  perfect  kingdom  without  any 
tarrying.' 


8         THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

their  God ;  that  He  shares  with  them  a  common  nature 
and  even  a  common  faith.  He  and  they  are  all  of  one. 
For  which  cause  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren  : 
saying,  I  will  declare  Thy  name  unto  My  brethren.  .  .  • 
And  again,  I  will  fut  my  trust  in  Him^ 

2.  Again,  our  Lord's  Hfe  on  earth  was  one  of  temptation. 
Ye  are  they,  He  tells  His  disciples  on  the  eve  of  the  Passion, 
which  have  continued  with  Me  in  My  temptations.^  At  the 
outset  of  His  ministry,  Satan  was  divinely  permitted  to 
assail  Him  in  the  wilderness,  and  when  the  tempter  departed 
from  Him,  it  was  but  for  a  season.^  He  was  in  all  points 
tempted  like  as  we  are,^  and  we  only  do  justice  to  the  general 
tenour  of  the  Gospel  narrative  when  we  regard  His  whole 
sojourn  on  earth  as  a  prolonged  conflict  with  the  evil  one 
and  with  those  who  were,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
his  instruments.  This  view  of  the  Lord's  life  is  deeply 
impressed  upon  the  New  Testament ;  so  much  so  that 
the  Apocalypse  even  depicts  the  history  of  the  Church 
under  this  aspect.  The  Church  is  led  along  the  very  path 
which  Christ  Himself  has  trodden.  Confronting  the  Bride, 
the  holy  society,  the  City  of  God,  is  ranged  the  world- 
power,  the  great  city  whose  power  is  based  on  oppression, 
selfishness  and  pride.  Over  against  the  Trinity  of  glory. 
Father,  Son  and  Spirit  divine,  is  ranged  a  trinity  of  evil : 
the  devil,  that  old  serpent,  the  wild  beast  and  the  false 
prophet.  So  in  St.  John's  Gospel  and  Epistles  we  may 
trace  the  progress  of  a  permanent  conflict  between  antago- 
nistic principles  :  light  and  darkness,  love  and  hatred ; 
we  witness  a  warfare  of  the  children  of  God  with  the  sons 
of  the  evil  one.^  It  is  plain  that  this  idea  of  a  conflict  with 
the  principle  of  evil  corresponds  to  a  real  and  prominent 

1  Heb.  ii.  ii,  12.  *  Luke  xxii.  28.  3  Luke  iv.  12. 

*  Heb.  iv.  15. 

^  Matt.  xiii.  38.    Cp.  John  viii.  44  ;    i  John  iii.  10. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   9 

aspect  of  our  Lord's  life,  and  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  there 
are  clear  traces  of  its  influence.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
'  comes  '  or  is  manifested  on  earth  for  the  overthrow  of 
that  organized  power  of  evil  which  has  its  '  prince  '  and  its 
'  throne.'  ^  The  will  of  God  stands  opposed  to  the  lusts 
of  men  and  of  the  devil ;  ^  and  those  who  in  a  world  of  dark- 
ness strive  to  embrace  and  to  fulfil  it,  find  that  for  them 
temptation  is  a  necessary  law  of  life ;  that  the  evil  one  is 
the  inveterate  foe  and  relentless  accuser  of  the  human 
soul.^  The  Lord's  Prayer,  in  fact,  throughout  implies  a 
progressive  discipline  both  of  faith  and  character  :  faith 
learning  to  realize  the  companionship  of  an  unseen  Father, 
Guide  and  King ;  character  growing  under  the  stress  of 
trial  and  temptation  from  strength  to  strength,  sustained  by 
bread  of  God's  providing,  cleansed  by  forgiveness  and  by 
the  exercise  of  charity,  guarded  by  divine  power  from  the 
assaults  of  evil. 

Moreover,  in  all  their  relation  to  God,  in  all  their  resist- 
ance to  the  power  that  would  seduce  them  from  their  true 
allegiance.  Christians  look  unto  Jesus  as  the  captain  and 
perfecter  of  their  faith  ;  *  Who  leads  them  into  no  conflict 
which  He  has  not  shared,  and  calls  them  to  face  no  foe 
whom  He  has  not  already  overthrown.  It  may  be  a  hard 
matter  to  understand  in  what  sense  the  sinless  Christ  could 
be  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  but  we  know  that 
He  had  a  moral  nature  akin  to  ours ;  that  temptation  is 
a  normal  element  in  that  average  human  experience  through 
which  He  learned  obedience  and  was  trained  for  His  high- 
priestly  work.  We  know,  too,  that  His  perfect  fellow- 
feeling  with  sinners  and  His  sympathy  with  the  tempted 
depended  on  His  having  actual  experience  of  their  trials ; 

1  John  xii.  31 ;  xiv.  30  ;  xvi.  11.     Cp.  Eph.  ii.  2  ;  Apoc.  ii.  13. 

2  I  Pet.  iv.  2  ;    John  viii.  44.  3  Apoc.  xii.  10. 
*  Heb.  xii.  2,  R.V.  raarg. 


10        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

and  we  may  look  upon  the  prayer  which  He  taught  as  bear- 
ing witness  to  the  general  character,  of  human  life.  It  is 
a  prayer  appropriate  to  a  state  of  warfare  :  a  prayer  giving 
utterance  to  man's  consciousness  that  in  a  world  of  mystery 
he  needs  guidance  and  protection  ;  in  a  world  of  evil, 
strength  and  deliverance. 

3.  Again,  we  may  consider  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  work  which  the  Son  of  God  came  into  the  world 
to  do.  In  His  case,  as  in  ours,  the  very  notion  of  sonship 
implies  the  thought  of  a  definite  vocation.  Son,  go  work 
to-day  in  the  vineyard.  In  all  that  He  set  Himself  to  do, 
the  consciousness  of  co-operation  with  God  was  ever  present 
to  the  heart  and  mind  of  Christ.  My  Father,  He  says, 
worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work  ;  and  again.  We  must 
work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Me  while  it  is  day  :  the  night 
Cometh  when  no  man  can  work.  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will 
of  Him  that  sent  Me  and  to  accomplish  His  work.  There  are 
different  aspects  of  the  work  which  He  accomplished  on 
earth,  and  of  which  upon  the  Cross  He  testified.  It  is  finished. 
But  He  Himself,  as  He  looks  back  upon  His  earthly  course, 
describes  it  in  a  single  comprehensive  sentence  :  /  have 
manifested  Thy  Name.''-  To  make  the  eternal  Father  of 
spirits  known  to  mankind,  to  declare  His  purpose  and 
character,  to  win  men  to  belief  in  His  righteousness  and 
lovingkindness — this  was,  from  one  point  of  view,  the  scope 
of  His  endeavours. 

Thus,  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  illustrated  by  the  life  of  Him 

Who  taught  it.     It  embodies  and  appeals  to  the  eternal 

truths  by  which  His  human  soul  was  inspired  and  sustained 

— truths  so  luminous  to  Him,  but  which  only  through  Him 

and  as  the  result  of  His  testimony  become  to  us  Christians — 

'  The  fountain  light  of  all  our  day  .  .  . 
A  master  light  of  all  our  seeing.' 

1  Matt.  xxi.  28;    John  v.  17;  ix.  4;  iv.  34;  xvii.  4  and  6. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   ii 

Here,  then,  in  the  Prayer  which  reveals  His  mind,  which 
embodies  the  secret  of  His  human  activity,  we  find  the  true 
Rule  of  work  and  worship  by  which  His  life  on  earth  was 
guided.  In  Him  is  revealed  in  its  simplicity  and  glory 
the  very  spirit  of  divine  sonship. 

His  task  is  assigned  to  Him  by  a  Father's  hand,  and 
is  gladdened  by  the  assurance  of  a  Father's  support  and 
co-operation.  His  '  works  '  are  those  which  the  Father  hath 
given  Him  to  accomplish  ;  they  hear  witness  of  Him  that 
the  Father  hath  sent  Him.^  They  make  manifest  a  Father's 
care  for  His  children ;  a  Father's  compassion  for  their 
sufferings  ;  a  Father's  willingness  to  save  and  redeem. 
They  invite  men  to  confidence  in  the  goodwill  of  the  great 
Creator,  and  encourage  them  to  make  known  to  God  every 
need  and  desire,  every  hope  and  aspiration.  So,  too,  the 
entire  purpose  of  His  preaching  is  to  declare  the  Name  of 
God ;  to  bring  all  men  everywhere  to  understand  His  pur- 
poses, to  recognize  the  tokens  of  His  presence,  to  confide 
in  His  character,  to  worship  Him  with  the  sacred  fear  and 
devoted  love  which  are  His  due.  The  coming  of  the  divine 
kingdom — its  present  power  and  future  triumph — is  the 
theme  of  His  parabolic  teaching.  Again,  the  holy  will 
of  God  which  He  proclaims  to  men,  is  the  law  of  His  own 
life.  /  am  come  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  Mine  own  will, 
hut  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me  ;  ^  the  will  of  Him  Whose 
unchangeable  purpose  of  good  towards  His  little  ones,  nay, 
towards  all  men,^  is  the  very  substance  of  the  Gospel.  Those 
who  do  this  will  He  claims  as  His  kindred,  and  welcomes 
as  partakers  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.*  In  the  spirit  of 
trustful  dependence  on  God  with  which  He  responds  to 
every  call  and  fulfils  every  obligation,  we  recognize  the 
inner  significance  of  the  petition,  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 

^  John  V.  36.  *  John  vi.  38  ;    cp.  iv.  34,  v.  30. 

3  Matt,  xviii.   14;    i  Tim.  ii.  4.  *  Matt.  xii.  50;  vii.  21. 


12       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

bread.  He  bids  us  ask  for  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses  inas- 
much as  deliverance  from  sin  is  a  vital  element  in  the  salva- 
tion proclaimed  by  the  Gospel.  He  came,  indeed,  to  deal 
with  sin  and  its  consequences  :  as  Judge,  as  Absolver,  as 
Redeemer,  as  Conqueror  of  death ;  and  the  condition  of 
our  forgiveness  is  that  we  should  deal  with  others  as  we 
would  have  God  deal  with  us.  Nor,  as  we  have  already 
noticed,  does  the  Prayer  omit  a  reference  to  the  stern  and 
permanent  conflict  through  which  human  character  must 
pass  in  its  progress  towards  moral  perfection.  Implicitly 
the  three  great  diseases  of  the  soul,  or,  as  we  might  say, 
the  three  typical  temptations — selfishness,  care  and  the 
service  of  mammon — find  their  antidote  in  the  petition 
addressed  to  '  Our  Father  '  for  '  our  daily  bread.'  Christ 
also  has  experienced  on  our  behalf  the  stress  of  temptation, 
and  has  overcome  it  by  throwing  Himself  wholly  on  God* 
He  has  vanquished  the  evil  one  and  obtained  for  us,  through 
the  prevailing  power  of  His  intercession,  deliverance  from 
Satan's  power.  ^  Whosoever  is  begotten  of  God  sinneth  not  j 
but  He  that  was  begotten  of  God  keepeth  him,  and  the  evil 
one  toucheth  him  not.^  Thus  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
continually  reminds  us  that  in  all  its  parts  the  work  of  our 
Lord  was  redemptive  :  liberating  men  from  those  false 
conceptions  of  deity  which  issued  in  vain  worship  ;  from 
those  false  ideals  of  goodness  and  happiness  which  closed 
to  them  the  paths  of  peace ;  from  that  enslavement  of  the 
will  which  made  them  bond-servants  of  corruption.^ 

4.  It  remains  to  consider  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  its  relation 
to  the  Redeemer's  Passion  and  Death.  On  Calvary  we 
see  Him  consummating  the  work  which  had  been  given  Him 
to  accomplish.  His  humanity  was  there  made  perfect 
through   sufferings;^   His    obedience   reached   its   climax 

1  John  xvii.  15.  2  j  John  v.  18. 

3  2  Pet.  ii.  19  ;    cp.  i.  4.  *  Heb.  ii.  10. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE   LORD'S  PRAYER     13 

in  a  final  and  complete  self-oblation ;  His  love  towards 
man,  His  devotion  towards  God,  were  manifested  to  the 
uttermost.  Certainly,  in  our  contemplation  of  the  Passion, 
we  do  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  caution  of  Bishop  Lancelot 
Andrewes  :  '  What  His  feelings  were,  it  is  dangerous  to 
define  ;  we  know  them  not,  we  may  be  too  bold  to  determine 
of  them.  To  very  good  purpose  it  was  that  the  ancient 
Fathers  of  the  Greek  Church  in  their  liturgy,  after  they  have 
recounted  all  the  particular  pains  as  they  are  set  down  in 
[the  narrative  of]  His  Passion,  and  by  all  and  by  every  one 
of  them  called  for  mercy,  do  after  all  shut  up  all  with  this  : 
St'  afyvdiaroiv  kottwv  koI  /3aadv(ov  ekerjaov  kol  awcrov  rj/jid^  : 
"  By  Thine  unknown  sorrows  and  sufferings,  felt  by  Thee, 
but  not  distinctly  known  by  us,  have  mercy  upon  us  and 
save  us."  '  ^  But  at  least  we  know  this  much — that  in 
suffering  as  man,  our  Saviour  prayed  as  man.  He  trusted 
in  God  ;  ^  His  soul  was  sustained  in  its  mysterious  conflict 
by  that  direct  knowledge  of  the  Father  which  had  inspired 
and  guided  the  conduct  of  His  earthly  life.  As  in  the 
days  of  strenuous  and  self-sacrificing  action,  so  in  the  awful 
hours  of  suffering,  there  was  the  same  unreserved  dependence 
on  the  Father,  the  same  thirst  for  the  living  God,  the  same 
zeal  for  His  honour,  the  same  unfaltering  desire  to  glorify 
His  Name.  On  the  cross  itself,  the  very  symbol  as  it  seemed 
of  uttermost  weakness  and  hopeless  failure.  He  opened  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  penitence  and  faith  ;  and  He  endured 
all  that  came  upon  Him  in  entire  submission  to  the  will  of 
His  Father.  To  God  he  looked  for  that  bread  of  the  divine 
grace  and  help  which  alone  could  carry  Him  through  the 
stress  of  His  conflict.  On  the  cross,  again,  as  in  His  daily 
intercourse  with  the  sinful  and  the  scornful.  He  suffered 

1  Sermon  2  on  the  Passion    [vol.  ii.,  pp.  139  foil. ;    ed.  Parker, 
Oxford]. 

2  Psa.  xxii.  8  [PB]  with  the  whole  context. 


14        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

being  tempted.  He  refused  to  hearken  to  the  voices  that 
bade  Him  come  down  from  the  cross.  He  was  fully  conscious 
from  first  to  last  that  the  power  of  darkness  was  making  its 
last  and  most  desperate  assault.  The  prince  of  this  world 
Cometh,  He  said,  and  he  hath  nothing  in  Me.'^  Finally,  it 
was  for  the  sins  of  men  that  He  laid  down  His  life  :  that 
they  might  obtain  an  answer  to  their  cry  for  forgiveness, 
He  bore  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree  the  penalty  which  their 
sins  had  deserved  ;  His  blood  was  shed  for  many  unto  remis- 
sion of  sins  ;  ^  and  in  interceding  for  His  murderers  He 
manifested  the  pardoning  love  of  God :  God  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  reckoning  unto  them 
their  trespasses.^  Though  the  sinless  Sufferer  Himself 
could  not  need  forgiveness,  yet  we  may  reverently  think 
that  as  the  representative  of  sinners,  wearing  their  nature' 
and  sorrowing  with  an  infinite  capacity  of  '  appropriative 
penitence  '  for  their  transgressions,  He  might  even  breathe 
the  petitions, '  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,'  '  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation,'  '  Deliver  us  from  the  evil  one  ' ;  thus  making 
Himself  wholly  one  with  those  whom  He  came  to  reconcile 
to  God  through  His  blood  and  to  save  by  His  Hfe.^ 

HI 

So  far  we  have  considered  the  way  in  which  the  Author 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  illustrated  in  the  spirit  of  His  life  and 
in  His  sacrificial  death  the  essential  significance  of  its 
several  petitions.  But  it  remains  to  say  something  of  His 
express  teaching  on  the  subject  of  prayer.  We  should 
notice  at  the  outset  that  He  takes  for  granted  the  instinct 
and  habit  of  prayer.  Prayer  is  the  instinctive  expression 
of  the  feeling  of  dependence  and  helplessness  which  is 
natural  to  man,  when  he  realizes  that  he  lives  in  a  world 

1  John  xiv.  30.  2  Matt.  xxvi.  28. 

3  2  Cor.  V.  19.  *  Rom.  v.   10. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER      15 

full  of  mystery  :  a  world  which  at  best  reveals  only  partially 
and  obscurely  the  presence  and  the  mind  of  that  unseen 
Power  Who  controls  its  movement  and  development.  Our 
Lord  sets  Himself,  as  it  were,  to  encourage  the  instinct  of 
prayer  :  to  insist  on  its  rationality  and  practical  value. 
He  expressly  declares  that  men  ought  always  to  fray  and 
not  to  faint, '^  and  He  gives  them  the  assurance  that  their 
prayers  will  be  answered,  by  dwelling  upon  the  relationship 
in  which  they  stand  to  the  Power  behind  nature.  Their 
petitions  are  addressed  to  One  Who  has  the  heart  of  a 
Father,  caring  for  men  as  His  children,  and  wilHng  to  give 
good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him.^  He  teaches  that  prayer 
in  its  simplest  aspect  is  a  means  of  making  known  to  God 
our  wants  and  desires.  The  pledge  of  its  efficacy  is  the 
character  of  Him  to  Whom  it  is  addressed.  Though  He 
understands  beforehand  the  needs  of  His  children,  He  bids 
them  '  ask,'  inasmuch  as  He  yearns,  Father-like,  to  win 
their  confidence  and  love. 

But  even  more  powerful  than  Christ's  teaching  is  the  con- 
straining influence  of  His  example.^  Prayer  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  habit  of  His  Hfe.  It  was  the  means  by  which 
He  hourly  renewed  His  will  and  prepared  Himself  for  each 
successive  stage  in  His  redemptive  work.  Prayer  was,  in 
fact,  a  necessary  element  in  the  perfectness  of  His  sacred 
Humanity.^    In  this,  as  in  all  other  things,  it  behoved  Him 

1  Luke  xviii.  i.  ^  Matt.  vii.  7-1 1.     Cp.  Phil.  iv.  6. 

3  Aug.  enarr.  in  Psalm  Ivi.  5  :  '  Ad  hoc  enim  oravit  ut  doceret 
orare  ;  quia  ad  hoc  passus  est  ut  doceret  pati ;  ad  hoc  resurrexit 
ut  doceret  sperare  resurrectionem.' 

*  T.  Aquinas,  Summa  theologice,  pars,  iii,  qu.  21,  art.  I  resp.  :  '  Quia 
in  Christo  est  aUa  voluntas  divina  et  alia  humana,  et  voluntas 
humana  non  est  per  seipsum  efi&cax  ad  implendum  quae  vult,  nisi 
per  virtutem  divinam  ;  inde  est  quod  Christo,  secundum  quod  est 
homo  et  humanam  voluntatem  habens,  competit  orare.'  Cp.  Aug. 
serm.  ccxvii.  i  :  '  Est  enim  Christus  homo  et  Deus  :  orat  ut  homo, 
dat  quod  orat  ut  Deus.' 


i6       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

to  he  made  like  unto  those  whose  nature  He  shared.  Prayer 
formed  a  vital  part  of  His  High-priestly  work.  It  was 
the  self-expression  of  that  eternal  Spirit  through  which  He 
offered  Himself  continually  without  blemish  unto  God.^ 

Thus  we  find  our  blessed  Lord  habitually  seeking  in 
prayer  an  interval  of  solace  and  refreshment  amid  the 
pressure  of  exhausting  toil.  The  first  chapter  of  St.  Mark, 
which  apparently  describes  one  of  the  days  of  the  Son  of 
man,  relates  that  in  the  morning  He  rose  up  a  great  while 
before  day,  and  departed  into  a  solitary  place  and  there  prayed. 
His  brief  periods  of  repose  are  devoted  to  communion  with 
God.  So  again  He  is  found  to  prepare  Himself  for  any 
momentous  step  in  the  fulfilment  of  His  ministry  by  prayer. 
Before  He  '  ordained  '  the  twelve  whom  He  had  chosen 
that  they  might  he  with  Him  and  that  He  tnight  send  them 
forth  to  preach  and  to  heal,  He  spent  a  whole  night  alone 
in  prayer.  Of  the  baptism,  of  the  scene  of  St.  Peter's 
great  confession,  of  the  Transfiguration,  we  have  already 
spoken.  Each  was  an  occasion  to  Christ  of  prayer,  of 
renewed  self-dedication  to  the  divine  service.  In  an  agony 
of  prayer  and  supplication  He  sought  strength  to  uphold 
Him  in  His  last  and  fiercest  strife ;  and  we  may  surely 
believe  that  in  the  mysterious  silences  of  the  Passion— the 
silence  before  the  Jewish  tribunal,  before  Herod,  before 
Pilate —  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  were  fulfilled  :  In  return 
for  My  love  they  persecute  Me  :    hut  I  am  all  prayer.^ 

Our  Lord  Himself  is  the  supreme  example  of  One  Who 
lives,  works  and  teaches  in  the  spirit  of  prayer.  But  He 
is  also  recorded  to  have  given  explicit  instruction  in  regard 
to  (i)  the  legitimate  objects  of  prayer,  (2)  the  conditions 
of  acceptable  prayer,  (3)  the  mistakes  that  men  are  apt 
to  make  in  the  manner  and  matter  of  their  prayer. 

1  Heb.  ii.  17;   ix.  14. 

2  Psa.  cix.  4  ;     Heb.   n^Sn  ""JN  ;   LXX.  iyii  di  irpocrivxoiJ-VV' 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER      17 

1.  Touching  the  rightful  objects  of  prayer,  Christ  seems 
to  suggest  that  the  character  of  men's  suppHcations  will 
depend  on  their  whole  outlook  upon  life,  or,  in  other  words, 
on  their  theory  of  the  universe.  If  it  be  true  that  the  most 
trivial  incidents  of  life  are  under  the  eye  and  subject  to 
the  controlling  providence  of  the  Creator,  ^  men  are  free  to 
lay  open  to  Him  all  their  desires  and  needs,  temporal  as 
well  as  spiritual.  But  the  order  of  the  petitions  contained 
in  the  Lord's  Prayer  also  implies  that  prayer  for  earthly 
gifts  and  blessings  will  be  guided  and  regulated  by  an  ever- 
growing sympathy  with  the  aims  and  interests  of  the  divine 
kingdom.  It  is  significant  that  our  Lord  nowhere  dis- 
courages His  disciples  from  praying  for  things  earthly  and 
temporal ;  ^  but  what  He  directly  enjoins  is  prayer  for  that 
which  will  tend  to  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  :  e.g., 
for  the  multiplication  of  labourers  in  the  spiritual  harvest 
of  the  world ;  for  deliverance  from  temptation  ;  for  the 
manifestation  in  human  souls  of  spiritual  power,  with  a 
view  to  the  release  of  others  from  the  grasp  of  evil.^  Finally, 
in  one  memorable  saying  He  implies  that  all  good  things 
which  the  heavenly  Father  bestows  upon  His  children  are 
comprehended  in  a  single  glorious  gift — a  gift  to  be  earnestly 
sought  for  and  devoutly  welcomed  :  He  shall  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him.'^ 

2.  Speaking  of  the  conditions  of  acceptable  prayer,  our 
Lord  teaches,  in  more  than  one  parable,  the  need  of  a  per- 
severing and  even  importunate  faith.^    He  seems  to  argue 

1  Matt.  X.  29,  30.  Cp.  Hogg,  Christ's  Message  of  the  Kingdom, 
pp.  106,  107. 

2  In  Matt.  xxiv.  20  He  seems  even  to  enjoin  it  in  a  particular 
instance. 

3  See  Matt.  ix.  38;  xxvi.  41;  xvii.  21. 

*  Luke  xi.  13  compared  with  Matt.  vii.  11. 

5  Luke  xi.  5  foil. ;  xviii.  i  foil.  ;  Matt.  vii.  7  foil.  Cp.  Hogg, 
op.  cit.,  p.  68  (quoted  above). 


i8        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

that  just  as  'importunity  towards  men  implies  a  praise- 
worthy trust  in   the   ultimate  brotherliness   of  man,'   so 
importunity  towards  God  is  the  sign  of  '  a  faith  in  the 
fatherliness  of  God  which  persists  unshaken  in  its  trust 
by  all  appearances  to  the  contrary.'     He  implies  that  the 
value  of  prayer  consists  in  its  being  the  spontaneous  utter- 
ance of  childlike  confidence  in  the  goodwill  of  God.     More- 
over, our  assurance,  that  we  shall  obtain  what  we  pray 
for,  will  depend  on  the  degree  of  our  sympathy  with  God's 
purpose,  our  wholehearted  endeavour  only  to  discover  and 
to  fulfil  His  will.     This  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  the 
moral  condition  specified  in  the  words,  Whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  My  Name}-    Petition  in  Christ's  '  Name  '  is  that 
which  is  offered  in  union  with  His  mind  and  intention ; 
in  sympathy  with  His  estimate  of  the  relative  value  of 
things,     n  we  seek  -first  the  kingdom  of  God,   our  prayer 
will  be  for  that  which  will  most  certainly  conduce  to  our 
own   eternal   welfare.  ^    As   Augustine   wisely   says,    '  The 
Name    "  Jesus "    signifies    "  Saviour,"    and     accordingly 
whatsoever  we  ask  that  is  detrimental  to  our  salvation 
we  ask  not  in  the  Saviour's  Name.'     To  ask  for  anything 
in  His  Name  is  to  desire  only  that  which  is  consistent  with 
His  redemptive  purpose.     '  Thus  He  is  our  Saviour,  not 
only  when  He  grants  our  requests,  but  also  when  He  grants 
them  not.     He  proves  Himself  to  be  our  Saviour  by  not 
doing  what  He  knows  to  be  contrary  to  our  salvation.'  ^ 
So  in  St.  John  xv.  7  the  fulfilment  of  prayer  is  promised 
in  proportion  to  the  closeness  of  the  believer's  fellowship 
with  Christ ;    and  to  this  promise  no  other  limitation  or 
condition    is    added.     Ask    whatsoever   ye   will.     Ask   and 

1  John  xiv.  13 ;  xv.  16. 

*  Bp.  "Wilson,  Sac.  Priv.,  p.  46  [ed.  Parker,  1840] :  '  To  promote 
the  Kingdom  of  God  is  to  increase  and  hasten  one's  own  happiness.' 
3  Aug.  in  Johan.  tract.  Ixxiii.  3. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   19 

it  shall  he  given  you  ;  seek  and  ye  shall  find.  And  the  verdict 
of  Christian  experience  confirms  the  express  declaration 
of  the  Gospel :  Everyone  that  asketh  receiveth.  We  know 
that  we  have  the  petitions  which  we  have  asked  of  Him.'^ 

The  other  necessary  condition  of  acceptance  is  a  ready 
willingness  to  forgive  those  who  have  done  us  injury.  In 
St.  Matthew's  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  we  find  this 
condition  annexed,  apparently  by  our  Lord  Himself,  as  a 
kind  of  emphatic  comment  on  what  He  has  just  taught. 
The  principle  here  laid  down  is  that  God  deals  with  men 
as  they  themselves  deal  with  others.  //  ye  forgive  not 
men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your 
trespasses.^  On  this  point  something  will  be  said  in  another 
connexion.  Meanwhile  it  may  suffice  to  notice  that  the 
absence  of  a  forgiving  temper  is  obviously  inconsistent 
with  the  trustfulness,  the  humility,  and  the  goodwill  to- 
wards God  and  man,  which  are  essential  to  the  acceptance 
of  prayer.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  anything  here  taught 
abrogating  the  condition  under  which  an  offender  may 
properly  claim  forgiveness.  If  he  repent,  forgive  him.^  A 
just  and  righteous  resentment  against  wrongdoing  has 
its  due  place,  as  in  the  State,  so  in  the  ordinary  intercourse 
of  individuals,  and  there  are  occasions  when  a  too  facile 
forgiveness  involves  both  a  breach  of  trust  and  a  failure 
in  true  charity. 

3.  Our  Lord  seems  also  to  teach  that  there  are  spiritual 
aids  to  prayer  which  cannot  wisely  be  disregarded  :  for 
instance,  privacy  and  retirement,  which  not  only  afford 
unfettered  scope  to  the  spirit  of  prayer,  but  are  also  to  the 
suppliant  an   unmistakable  token  of  the  sincerity   of  his 

*  Matt.  vii.  8  ;    i  John  v.  15. 
^  Matt.  vi.  15  ;    cp.  Mark  xi.  25,  26. 

^  Luke  xvii.  3.  See  the  admirable  passage  in  Martineau,  Types 
of  Ethical  Theory  [ed.  3],  vol.  ii,  pp.  201  foil. 


20        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

act ;  and  concert  with  others,  which  is  a  powerful  aid  to 
alacrity  and  fervour  in  devotion,  and  which  has  special 
promise  of  divine  acceptance.^  Nor  does  Christ  omit  to 
warn  His  hearers  against  faults  in  the  practice  of  prayer 
which  either  contradict  its  real  nature  or  neutralize  its 
efficacy.  He  bids  them  he  not  as  the  hypocrites,  who  pray 
in  public  places  in  order  to  attract  the  notice  and  win  the 
praise  of  men  ;  nor  as  the  heathen,  who  make  vain  repetitions, 
or  who,  like  the  priests  of  Baal  in  their  controversy  with 
Elijah,  think  to  weary  the  Almighty  into  granting  their 
petitions.  ^  Augustine  observes  that  this  '  much  speaking  ' 
of  the  heathen  is  based  on  a  debased  conception  of  Deity. 
They  imagine  that  He  '  to  Whom  all  hearts  are  open  and 
from  Whom  no  secrets  are  hid  '  needs,  like  a  human  judge, 
to  be  fully  instructed  in  matters  touching  which  He  is 
ignorant,  and  so  to  be  won  over,  as  it  were,  to  the  petitioner's 
view  of  the  case.^  It  is  clear,  however,  that  our  Lord's 
words  on  this  subject  do  not  preclude  frequent  offering  of 
the  same  petition ;  for  even  He  Himself,  in  the  garden  of 
the  Agony,  prayed  thrice,  saying  the  same  words,  and  He 
encourages,  as  we  have  seen,  importunity  in  urging  a 
particular  request.  What  He  condemns  is  the  temper  of 
faithless  distrust  and  servile  fear  which  regards  prayer  as 
a  mechanical  exercise,  persistence  in  which  is  regarded  as 
a  form  of  merit,  claiming  the  fulfilment  of  the  petition  as 
a  right.*  The  purport  of  Christ's  whole  teaching  is  to 
inculcate  simplicity   and    naturalness  in   our    intercourse 

1  Matt.  vi.  6;  xviii.  19.  On  common  prayer,  see  by  all  means  the 
section  in  Hooker,  Eccles.  Polity,  bk.  v,  ch.  24. 

*  Matt.  vi.  5  foil.  ;    cp.  i  Kings  xviii.  26-29. 

3  de  serm.  Dom.  in  monte,  ii.  3,  12.  Augustine  says  in  this  con- 
nexion :  '  Et  revera  omne  multiloquium  a  gentilibus  venit,  qui 
exercendae  linguae  potius  quam  mundando  animo  dant  operam.' 
Cp.  Chrys.,  in  Matt.  horn.  xix.  249,  A. 

*  This  appears  to  be  the  point  of  Matt.  vi.  7. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   21 

with  God,  '  We  are  speaking  to  a  Father.  If  it  eases  the 
burden  on  our  hearts  to  renew  a  request  again  and  again, 
let  us  do  so  until  either  our  wish  is  granted  or  we  are  taught 
that  what  we  have  been  desiring  is  not  really  good.  ...  It  is 
only  vain  repetitions  that  are  displeasing  to  Him.'  ^  Fretful 
anxiety  of  mind  is  incompatible  with  the  true  spirit  of 
sonship ;  and  prayer  has  not  fulfilled  its  function  in  the 
spiritual  Hfe  till  it  has  completely  delivered  the  soul  from 
distrustful  fear,  and  has  lifted  it  into  the  light  of  confidence 
and  peace.  '  For  quietness,'  says  a  Greek  Father,  '  is  the 
mother  of  prayer,  and  prayer  is  the  inward  manifestation 
of  the  divine  glory.'  2 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Author  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
leaves  unanswered  most  of  those  speculative  difficulties 
which  men  have  felt  concerning  prayer.  He  teaches  the 
right  point  of  view  from  which  all  such  perplexities  should 
be  considered  when  He  encourages  us  to  confide  simply 
in  the  revealed  character  of  God  and  to  trust  to  the  utter- 
most those  filial  instincts  which  prompt  us  to  make  known 
to  Him  all  our  needs.  Prayer  in  its  simplest  aspect  is  the 
instinctive  movement  of  the  human  soul  towards  Him  Who 
is  at  once  its  Source  and  its  Goal.  It  is  what  Augustine 
describes  it  to  be,  '  The  turning  of  the  heart  towards  Him 
Who  is  ever  ready  to  give.'  ^  It  is  for  the  Christian  essen- 
tially what  it  was  for  Christ :  the  heart-language  of  the 
spirit  which  came  forth  from  God  and  goeth  unto  God.^ 

IV 

We  may  conclude  this  chapter  by  calling  to  mind  what 
is  implied  in  the  fact  that  this  is  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Chris- 
tians call  on  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord.    They 

1  Hogg,  op.  cit.,  p.   108. 

2  John  Damascene,  horn,  de  transfig.  Dom.,  x. 

3  de  serm.  in  monte,  ii.  3,  14  :  '  Conversio  cordis  ad  eum  qui 
semper  dare  paratus  est.*  *  John  xiii.  3. 


22        THE   RULE   OF   WORK   AND   WORSHIP 

recognize  His  sovereignty  in  the  sphere  of  nature  and  of 
grace  ;  and  in  haiUng  Him  as  '  Lord  '  they  virtually  worship 
Him  as  '  very  God  of  very  God.'  They  regard  themselves 
as  being  under  law  to  Christ ;  ^  they  accept  His  teaching 
as  supremely  authoritative,  as  the  stay  and  guide  of  life  ; 
they  reverence  and  cherish  His  words  as  spirit  and  lije.^ 
Accordingly,  to  His  believing  Church,  the  prayer  that  He 
taught  is  necessarily  the  perfect  pattern  and  type  of  all 
prayer.  St.  Cyprian  remarks,  that  He  Who  thus  instructed 
His  disciples  was  the  Lord  Who  of  old  spake  by  the  prophets, 
and  Who  in  due  time  came  to  crown  their  testimony  by 
His  own  plenary  authority.^  The  Author  of  man's  being 
became  his  instructor  in  the  way  of  approach  to  God. 
Inasmuch  as  it  is  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father  Who  puts 
these  words  in  our  mouth,  we  are  assured  that  when  we 
use  them  we  are  praying  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
mind  and  will ;  nay,  we  employ  the  very  words  of  Him 
Who  ever  intercedes  for  us  ;  we  are  learning  by  His  example 
to  bring  our  wills  into  conformity  with  the  perfect  rule  and 
standard  of  desire  :  the  good  and  acceptable  and  perfect 
will  of  a  heavenly  Father.^  '  Let  the  Father  recognize,' 
says  St.  Cyprian,  '  the  words  of  His  own  Son  when  we 
utter  our  petition.  Let  Him  Who  dwells  inwardly  in  our 
heart  Himself  be  on  our  lips  ;  and  since  we  sinners  possess 
Him  as  our  Advocate  with  the  Father,  when  we  implore 
forgiveness,  let  the  words  we  offer  be  those  of  our  Advo- 
cate.' ^  The  prayer  taught  by  the  Lord  must  needs  be 
filled  with  prevailing  power. 

Again,  we  learn  that  prayer  for  others  is  a  main  part  of 
Christian  duty.     Into  the  very  texture  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 

1  I  Cor.  ix.  21  ;    cp.  Gal.  vi.  2.  ^   John  vi.  63. 

3  de  orat.  Dom.  i :      Christ  was  '  Dei  sermo  qui  in  prophetis  erat.' 

*   Rom.  xii.  2. 

5  de  orat.  Dom.  i :     See  also  note  at  the  end  of  the  chapter. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER        23 

is  woven  intercession,  and  the  opening  words, '  Our  Father,* 
while  they  plainly  call  to  our  remembrance  the  needs  of 
others,  also  inspire  thoughts  of  peace  and  union  with  our 
brethren.  The  prayer  is  in  the  truest  sense  oratio  fraterna  ^ 
— the  prayer  of  brotherhood.  It  cuts  at  the  root  of  all 
human  inequalities  ;  it  levels  all  distinctions  which  sever 
high  from  low,  rich  from  poor,  educated  from  uneducated, 
wise  from  simple.  It  excludes  all  envy  and  ill-will ;  all 
that  hinders  or  mars  brotherly  love.  It  reminds  us  '  that 
in  the  greatest  and  most  essential  things  we  all  alike  partici- 
pate ;  on  all  alike  God  has  bestowed  one  and  the  same 
patent  of  nobility  '  in  calling  men  His  children.  ^  Therefore, 
He  Who  is  our  peace  ^  would  have  us  pray,  not  only  for 
ourselves  but  for  all,  so  uniting  ourselves  to  Him,  the  One 
Mediator  Who  pleads  for  all.  We  may  indeed  rightly 
regard  the  Prayer  in  its  largest  aspect  both  as  an  inter- 
cession for  the  unity  of  Christendom,  and  as  a  supplication 
in  behalf  of  all  mankind.  It  may  perhaps  help  us  to  be 
regular  and  persevering  in  prayer  if  we  recollect  that  when 
we  omit  it  others  besides  ourselves  suffer  loss  :  the  poor 
and  the  wretched,  the  sinful  and  the  fallen,  the  suffering 
and  the  tempted,  the  sick  and  dying  who  need—  how  sorely  ! 
— the  daily  bread  of  divine  grace  and  help  ;  the  relief  of 
bodily  necessities  ;  forgiveness,  restoration,  and  deliverance 
from  evil.^ 

We  learn  also  the  due  proportion  to  be  observed  in 
prayer    from  the  divinely-taught   order  of  the  petitions. 

^  Augustine.  *  Chrysostom,  in  Matt.  horn,  xix.,  250  A. 

3  Eph.  ii.  14. 

*  The  order  of  petitions  in  the  Prayer  of  John  xvii.  is  noteworthy  : 
The  Saviour  prays,  first,  for  Himself  (v.  5),  next  for  His  disciples, 
'  those  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me  '  (9  foil.),  lastly  for  the  wider  circle 
of  those  whom  their  influence  may  reach.  See  a  suggestive  sermon 
by  Dr.  Lock,  Warden  of  Keble  College, '  A  Morning  Prayer,'  S.P.C.K., 
1913. 


24        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

In  the  prayer  of  faith  we  are  called  to  enter  into  the  mind 
of  God,  to  make  His  purposes  our  own,  to  seek  His  glory 
and  the  extension  of  His  kingdom,  before  we  ask  for  the 
supply  of  our  own  wants.  The  last  three  petitions,  indeed, 
we  shall  not  always  need ;  these  are  '  the  prayers  of  our 
pilgrimage  ' ;  and  have  reference  only  to  the  necessities 
and  perils  of  our  present  state.  We  are  free,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  to  ask  of  God  what  we  will,  and  to  lay  open 
before  Him  all  the  desires  of  our  hearts  ;  but  if  we  pray 
as  we  ought,  there  can  be  no  request  that  is  not  already 
included  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  ;  ^  and  therefore  no  request 
for  temporal  blessings  that  is  not  subordinate  to  the  spiritual 
purpose  of  life. 

Once  more,  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  an  example  of  the  essen- 
tial simplicity  of  true  religion.  Since  our  needs  are  few, 
our  prayers  should  be  simple.  For  the  real  answer  to  our 
prayers  is  God  Himself  :  all  that  God  gives,  all  that  God 
is  :  life  and  light,  truth  and  love.  In  the  Lord's  Prayer 
we  ask  for  that  which  constitutes  the  true  life  of  man, 
and  for  all  else  only  in  so  far  as  it  ministers  to  that  life. 
It  is  the  supplication  of  one  whose  eye  is  single,  who  has 
overcome  all  inward  unrest,  all  division  of  mind,  all  anxious 
care ;  who  in  his  prayer  commits  himself  to  Him  that  is 
able  to  do  for  His  children  exceeding  abundantly,  above  all 
thai  they  ask  or  think,  and  Who  makes  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  Him.  2    The  Lord's  Prayer 

1  Aug.  epist.  cxxx.  22.  In  the  prayer  of  a  Christian,  '  nihil 
invenies  quod  in  ista  Dominica  non  contineatur  et  concludatur 
oratione.'  So  in  the  adaptation  of  Archbp.  Thoresby's  catechism 
ascribed  to  WycUff  :  '  If  thou  runnest  about  by  all  the  words  of 
holy  prayers,  thou  shalt  find  nothing  which  is  not  contained  in  this 
prayer  of  the  Lord.  Whoever  saith  a  thing  that  may  not  pertain 
to  this  prayer  of  the  Gospel,  he  prayeth  bodily  and  unjustly  and 
unlawfully  as  methinketh,'  Lay  Folk's  Catechism,  p.  105  [Early 
Eng.  Texts  Society,  No.  118].  ^  Eph.  iii.  20  ;  Rom.  viii.  28. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER   25 

is,  in  fact,  a  kind  of  compendium  of  the  Gospel — breviarium 
totius  evangelii,  as  Tertullian  calls  it.i  The  new  prayer 
taught  by  our  Master  is  in  keeping  with  that  newness  of 
the  Spirit  which  is  characteristic  of  His  religion.  Each 
clause  suggests  some  new  aspect  of  God's  character ;  some 
different  relationship  in  which  He  stands  to  His  creatures. 
Each  adds  its  own  peculiar  contribution  to  the  message  of 
the  Gospel- — to  the  word  of  life.  It  proclaims  the  name  of 
God  as  the  heavenly  Father  of  spirits  ;  as  the  Holy  One 
Who  has  made  known  to  mankind  His  character  and  claim  ; 
as  the  King  and  Ruler  of  the  universe  Who  bears  all  things 
onward  with  wise  and  merciful  providence  to  their  appointed 
goal ;  as  the  Lawgiver  and  Judge  Whose  holy  will  is  the 
eternal  law  of  right ;  as  the  Fountain  of  Life  Who  sustains 
our  being  and  supplies  all  our  wants  ;  as  the  Absolver  Who 
can  release  us  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin  ;  as  the  Leader 
Who  guides  us  throughout  the  days  of  our  earthly  pilgrim- 
age ;  as  the  Saviour  Who  redeems  us  from  all  evil  and  over- 
comes all  that  hinders  the  accomplishment  of  His  purpose. 
He  who  has  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  prayer  taught 
by  Christ  may  say,  in  the  words  of  a  Christian  poet : — 

'  I  know  He  is,  and  what  He  is 
Whose  one  great  purpose  is  the  good 
Of  all.     I  rest  my  soul  on  His 
Immortal  love  and  Fatherhood, 

And  trust  Him  as  His  children  should.'  ^ 

As  the  Lord's  Prayer  gathers  up  all  human  needs  of  the 
past,  the  present  and  the  future,  so,  rightly  understood, 
it  embraces  all  the  truths  of  religion  by  which  men  live. 
'  It  may  be  compared,'  says  one,  '  to  a  pearl  in  which  the 
light  of  the  whole  sky  is  reflected.'  ^ 

1  de  orat.,  ii.  2  j    q    Whittier. 

3  J.  P.  Lange,  Leben  Jesu,  iv.  78  :   '  Es  ist  einer  Perle  vergleich- 
bar,  in  welchem  sich  das  Licht  des  ganzen  Himmels  spiegelt.' 


26       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

NOTE  {page  22) 

The  Sufficiency  of  the  Lord's  prayer 

'  Ista  oratio  superat  et  excellit  omnem  aliam  orationem  in 
dignitate  et  utilitate.  In  dignitate,  quia  Ipsemet  Deus  ipsam 
composuit  et  fecit  :  et  ideo  facit  magnum  dedecus  et  magnam 
irreverentiam  Jesu  Christo  Dei  Filio  qui  sibi  accipit  verba 
rithmitica  et  curiosa,  dimittitque  et  relinquit  orationem  quam 
Ipsemet  composuit  qui  scit  totam  voluntatem  Dei  Patris  et 
qualis  oratio  maxime  sibi  placet,  et  pro  quibus  nos  miseri  maxime 
indigemus  deprecari.  Nam  sicut  prius  dixi,  Ille  solus  totam 
scit  Dei  Patris  voluntatem,  totam  nostram  necessitatem.  Igitur 
centum  millia  hominum  decipiuntur  per  multiplicationem  ora- 
tionum.  Cum  enim  putant  se  habere  devotionem,  habent 
unam  vilem  et  carnalem  affectionem,  quia  omnis  carnalis  animus 
naturaliter  delectatur  in  tali  loquela  curiosa.' 
(From   the   Speculum   ecclesicB    of   St.    Edmund,  Archbp.  of 

Canterbury,  1234-1240.)  ^ 

1  The  passage  is  printed  in  the  Lay  Folks'  Catechism,  Early  Eng. 
Text  Society,  orig.  ser.  No.  118,  p.  103. 


CHAPTER    II 
PRAYER  AND   ITS  PLACE   IN  RELIGION 

'  He  that  has  learned  to  pray  as  he  ought   has  got  the  secret  of  an  holy 
life.' — Bishop  T.  Wilson. 

IF  we  would  understand  the  meaning  and  importance 
of  prayer  we  must  begin  with  the  inquiry,  What  is 
rehgion  ? 

The  end  of  rehgion  is  that  holiness  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord ;  ^  but  rehgion  is,  of  course,  something 
wider  and  deeper  than  morahty — the  conformity  of  human 
hfe  to  divine  law.  It  lies  behind  morality  as  its  source 
and  motive  power.  Religion  consists  in  a  living  personal 
relationship  between  God  and  man  :  a  relationship  imply- 
ing, on  man's  side,  dependence,  subjection,  spiritual  response 
to  a  personal  Being  Who  manifests  Himself  to  His  creatures 
in  ways  of  His  own  appointment :  in  His  providential  care, 
in  His  Word  of  truth,  in  conscience,  in  righteous  dispensa- 
tions of  judgment  and  blessing.  The  link  between  the 
divine  nature  and  the  human  that  renders  '  religion ' 
possible  and  intelligible,  is  the  fact  of  personality.  Per- 
sonality is  known  to  us  chiefly  as  that  which  implies  capacity 
for  fellowship  with  another ;  it  is  the  necessary  condition 
of  mutual  comprehension,  of  spiritual  intercourse  and 
moral  co-operation  :  in  a  word,  of  friendship.  Accordingly, 
religion  is  perhaps  best  defined  as  the  life  of  friendship 
between  God  and  man  :    a  friendship  based  in  its  origin 

1  Heb.  xii.  14. 
27 


28       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

on  affinity  of  nature,  in  its  continuance  on  resemblance  of 
character.  ^  The  Gospel  tells  us  that  the  Son  of  God  assumed 
our  nature  precisely  for  this  :  that  He  might  win  men  to 
such  a  belief  in  the  goodwUl  of  God,  as  might  transfigure 
human  life  and  bring  its  noblest  possibilities  to  fulfilment. 
This  object  He  achieved  in  the  first  instance  by  the  power 
of  His  own  example.  He  showed  by  the  whole  tenour  of 
His  life  on  earth  that  religion  is  essentially  a  living  relation- 
ship of  love.  In  all  His  words  of  grace  and  works  of  mercy, 
in  the  constancy  of  His  own  filial  obedience  even  unto 
death,  He  taught  His  disciples  how  they  ought  to  think 
of  God,  how  they  should  approach  Him,  how  strive  to 
please  Him.  In  the  Lord's  Prayer,  gathering  up  in  substance 
the  highest  spiritual  wisdom  of  the  Old  Testament,  He 
instructed  them  how  to  converse  with  God  ;  how  to  present 
their  needs,  how  to  open  their  hearts,  how  to  '  walk '  with 
Him  continually  as  children  with  their  Father.  ^ 

By  religion,  then,  is  to  be  understood  a  life  of  response 
to  the  divine  self-revelation,  a  life  of  loving  fellowship  with 
God  ;  and  its  intended  effect  is  to  impart  to  human  per- 
sonality all  the  moral  strength,  support  and  solace  that 
true  friendship — the  sense  of  being  known  and  understood, 
pitied  and  loved  by  another — can  bestow.  This  '  other 
than  self  '  is  revealed  to  us  by  the  Lord  Jesus  as  a  heavenly 
Father,  Who  watches  over  all  His  creatures  with  an  infinite 
knowledge  of  their  needs  ;  communicating  Himself  to  each 
according  to  its  capacity,  and  dealing  with  each  according 
to  its  opportunities.  The  goodwill  and  care  of  God  towards 
men  is  analogous  to,  though  it  transcends,  the  affection  of 
a  human  father  for  his  offspring.     He  hears  and  answers 

1  Aug.  de  civ.  Dei,  viii.  17  :  '  Cum  religionis  summa  sit  imitari 
quern  colis.' 

^  On  the  relation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  the  teaching  of  the  Old 
Testament,  see  Note  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 


PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION      29 

the  spontaneous  cry  of  human  need  ;  He  foresees  and  pro- 
vides for  every  contingency  ;  He  is  the  Author  of  all  bless- 
ing, the  Healer  of  all  sin,  the  Conqueror  of  all  evil.  This 
is  the  idea  of  God  which  underlies  all  Christ's  teaching  on 
the  subject  of  prayer.  If  religion  consists  in  a  filial  relation- 
ship to  God,  prayer  is  essentially  the  intercourse  of  sons 
with  their  Father.  It  is  man's  response  to  the  revelation 
of  God's  holiness,  love  and  power.  It  is  the  means  by  which 
— yielding  to  an  innate  instinct  of  his  nature — he  holds 
communion  with  the  unseen  Father  of  spirits,  seeks  to  dis- 
cover His  will  and  to  embrace  His  purpose,  and  surrenders 
Himself  to  the  claim  of  infinite  Truth,  Wisdom  and  Love. 
'  Prayer  is  the  desire  of  the  whole  man,  thought,  will, 
feeling,  receptivity  and  activity,  turned  Godward  in  expecta- 
tion.' 1 


Such  is  prayer,  and  it  holds  a  supreme  place  in  religion ; 
or  rather  it  is  the  characteristic  act  of  religion.  It  embraces 
all  that  is  essentially  included  in  the  service  of  God,  inas- 
much as  it  implies  that  attitude  of  trustful  and  reverent 
submission  to  the  divine  will  which  is  the  true  law  for 
humanity.  2  Men  ought  always  to  pray.  Prayer  is  the 
one  function  of  the  soul  which  circumstances  need  not 
interrupt.  We  cannot  always  be  engaged  in  active  toil 
of  body  or  mind  ;  but  always,  while  consciousness  remains, 
we  can  pray.  We  are  taught,  moreover,  by  the  example  of 
our  Lord  and  of  His  saints,  that  holiness  is  prayer  :  religion 
is  prayer.     '  Prayer,'  says  a  mystical  writer,  '  is  the  most 

1  The  Practice  of  Christianity,  p.  228. 

2  T.  Aquinas,  Summa,  ii,  ii*^,  83,  3  concl.  ;  *  Oratio  est  actus 
religionis,  siquidem  per  orationem  homo  Deum  reveretur,  seseque 
illi  subjicit.'  So  Clement  of  Alexandria,  speaking  of  the  '  true 
Gnostic '  or  saint,  says,  '  For  him  his  entire  Ufe  is  prayer  and  con- 
verse with  God  '  {Strom,  vii.  12,  73). 


30       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

perfect  and  divine  action  that  a  rational  soul  is  capable  of  ; 
yea,  it  is  the  only  principal  action  for  the  exercising  of 
which  the  soul  was  created,  since  in  prayer  alone  the  soul 
is  united  to  God.  And,  by  consequence,  it  is  of  all  other 
actions  and  duties  the  most  indispensably  necessary.' 
Again,  '  By  prayer,  I  do  not  understand  petition  or  suppli- 
cation. .  .  .  Prayer  is  rather  an  offering  and  giving  to 
God  whatsoever  He  may  justly  require  from  us — that  is, 
all  duty,  love,  obedience,  etc.  Prayer,  in  this  general 
notion,  may  be  defined  to  be  an  elevation  of  the  mind  to  God, 
expressing,  or  at  least  implying,  an  entire  dependence  on 
Him  as  the  Author  and  Fountain  of  all  good  ;  a  will  and 
readiness  to  give  Him  His  due,  which  is  no  less  than  all 
love,  obedience,  adoration,  glory  and  worship  ,  .  .  and 
lastly  a  desire  and  intention  to  aspire  to  an  union  of  spirit 
with  Him.'  ^ 

Thus  Prayer,  in  its  widest  sense,  is  an  exercise  of  the 
spiritual  faculties  which  is  not  necessarily  hindered  or 
restricted  by  outward  circumstances .  Our  Redeemer  prayed 
upon  the  Cross  itself,  as  if  to  teach  us  that  the  spirit  of 
prayer  need  not  be  quenched  either  by  the  stress  of  bodily 
anguish,  by  the  sense  of  spiritual  desolation,  or  by  lack  of 
privacy.  In  all  places  and  in  all  circumstances  there  is 
opportunity  for  the  elevation  of  the  heart  to  God,  for  the 
renewing  of  those  desires  which  'speak'  to  Him  without 
utterance  of  words,  ^  for  that  entire  submissiveness  of 
spirit  which  waits  on  Him  and  looks  for  tokens  of  His  will, 
'  Sometimes  '  (it  is  related  of  a  holy  man)  '  he  remained  in 

1  Fr.  Augustine  Baker,  O.S.B.  (d.  1641),  Holy  Wisdom,  treatise  iii., 
'Of  Prayer,'  §  i,  ch.  i. 

*  Cp.  the  language  of  the  old  Sarum  collect  for  purity  :  '  Deus 
cui  omne  cor  patet  et  omnis  voluntas  loquitur,'  etc.  So  Erasmus, 
Enchiridion  mil.  Christ.  2  :  '  Non  strepitus  labiorum  sed  ardens 
animi  votum  tanquam  inteniissima  quaedam  vox  ferit  aures  divinas,' 


PRAYER  AND   ITS   PLACE   IN   RELIGION      31 

cessation  and  silence  before  God  ;  which  manner  of  prayer 
he  accounted  a  great  treasure  ;  for  then  his  heart,  his  desires, 
his  secret  intentions,  his  knowledge  and  all  his  powers 
spake,  and  God  understood  their  mute  language.'  ^  So 
St.  Paul  realized  the  solace  and  power  of  prayer,  less  vividly 
perhaps  in  his  days  of  absorbing  missionary  toil,  than  in 
the  prison  at  Rome  where  he  lay,  chained  to  the  heathen 
soldier  who  guarded  him — his  energies  fettered  and  restricted 
in  every  direction,  his  soul  harassed  by  manifold  anxieties 
and  distresses,  yet  feeling  himself  free  to  bow  his  knees  unto 
the  Father  from  Whom  every  family  in  heaven  and  on  earth 
is  named.  ^  May  he  not  thus  have  learned,  as  never  before, 
the  secret  of  power  with  God,  of  fruitfulness  in  labour,  of 
strength  made  perfect  in  weakness  ? 

II 

We  have  spoken  of  the  conception  of  the  divine  nature 
and  character  which  underlies  the  instinct  of  prayer,  and 
which  our  Lord  inculcates  so  explicitly  in  His  own  example 
and  teaching.  '  Primarily  we  pray  because  we  love  God  or 
want  to  know  Him,  and  because  we  desire  that  He  will 
knit  our  wills  with  His  and  empower  us  to  walk  in  His 
ways,  and  to  co-operate  in  the  works  of  His  kingdom.'  ^ 
We  pray  because  we  believe  that  behind  the  veil  of  the 
visible  order  of  Nature  lives  and  works  a  Being  Whose 
infinite  might  is  ever  controlled  by  a  spiritual  purpose  ; 
Whose  relationship  to  man  is  that  of  a  Father,  crowning 
His  gifts  to  His  children  by  making  them  partakers  of  His 
holiness.'^  In  the  Lord's  Prayer  we  learn  to  approach  God 
and  to  think  of  Him  in  accordance  with  what  the  only- 

1  Holy  Wisdom,  ubi  sup.,  §  i  ch.  7  (alluding  to  the  experience  of 
Fr.  Baltazar  Alvarez).  2  Eph.  iii.  14. 

3  Bp.  Weston,  The  One  Christ,  p.  249.     See  the  whole  passage. 
*  Heb.  xii.   10. 


32        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

begotten  Son  has  revealed  concerning  Him.  For,  like  all 
the  other  faculties  of  our  nature,  prayer  corresponds  to 
an  objective  reality  external  to  us — ^to  a  reality  which  by 
means  of  it  can  be  discovered  and  apprehended.  It  opens 
a  way  by  which  the  soul  can  feel  after  God  and  find  Him,^ 
and  may  so  attain  to  a  real  knowledge  of  His  character 
and  ways.  Thus  prayer  becomes  a  more  potent  factor  in 
man's  spiritual  education  and  brings  him  into  more  inti- 
mate contact  with  reality,  in  proportion  as  it  corresponds 
to  his  growing  knowledge  of  God.  Further,  the  endeavour 
to  assimilate  what  is,  or  may  be,  known  of  God,  demands 
persevering  effort.  Prayer  is  an  instinct  which  needs 
training  and  discipline,  a  faculty  which  is  expanded  only 
by  continual  and  often  laborious  exercise.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  our  Lord  says  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and 
not  to  faint ;  and  St.  Paul  echoes  the  injunction  when  he 
bids  his  converts  '  watch  unto  prayer  '  with  all  perseverance.^ 
For  like  all  other  forms  of  knowledge,  only  in  a  far  higher 
degree,  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  is  the  life  of  man,  is 
the  fruit  of  disciplined  effort,  of  patient  and  steady  persist- 
ence in  the  use  of  a  faculty  bestowed  for  this  very  purpose  : 
that  we  might  hold  communion  with  the  unseen,  and  by 
so  doing  enter  into  vital  and  quickening  fellowship  with 
Him  Who  is  the  upholder  of  life,  the  light  of  the  under- 
standing, the  satisfying  object  of  the  soul's  thirst. 

Prayer,  then,  is  primarily  converse  with  a  divine  Father 
and  Friend.  It  is  the  endeavour  to  ascertain  His  mind  and 
purpose,  to  share  His  thoughts,  to  dedicate  life  to  His 
service.  Its  function  is  to  train  and  sanctify  desire  by 
directing  it  aright ;  but  in  its  simplest  aspect  it  is  converse. 
The  child  of  God  is  therefore  free  to  lay  out  before  Him  all 

1  Acts  xvii.  27. 

2  Eph.  vi.  18.  Cp.  Rom.  xii.  12  ;  Col.  iv.  2  ;  i  Thess.  v.  17 ; 
I  Pet.  iv.  7. 


PRAYER  AND   ITS  PLACE   IN   RELIGION     33 

his  fears,  hopes,  joys,  sorrows,  perplexities,  yearnings, 
aspirations.  Through  Christ,  and  in  union  with  Him,  he 
may  have  '  boldness  '  (lit.  freedom  of  speech)  in  approaching 
God  ;  1  he  may  feel  *  assurance  '  of  the  divine  sympathy 
and  goodwill.  St.  James,  in  his  teaching  about  prayer, 
suggests  the  thought  that  it  is  the  appointed  means  by 
which  all  natural  feelings  or  desires,  of  whatever  kind,  are 
to  be  hallowed  and  regulated.  7s  any  among  you  suffering  ? 
let  him  pray.  Is  any  cheerful  ?  let  him  sing  praise.  ^  The 
life  of  fellowship  with  a  heavenly  Father  implies  this  sim- 
plicity and  '  openness  '  of  converse.  We  are  encouraged  to 
speak  to  God  as  friend  holds  communion  with  friend.  But 
since  God  is  also  the  '  Giver  of  all  good  gifts,'  the  Fountain 
of  life  and  blessing,  prayer  necessarily  tends  to  take  the 
form  of  petition.  As  Hooker  says.  It  is  '  a  mean  to  procure 
those  things  which  God  hath  promised  to  grant  when  we 
ask.'  3  Here  also  the  keynote  of  converse  with  the  Father 
is  simplicity.  Our  requests  are  to  be  simply  made  known 
to  One  Who  gives  simply,  and  upbraideth  not.^  Just  as, 
through  the  ordinary  processes  of  Nature,  He  responds  to 
the  inarticulate  cry  of  the  brute  creation — even  the  birds, 
Tertullian  beautifully  says,  'spread  out  their  wings  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  as  if  they  were  hands,  and  utter  what  seems 
to  be  a  prayer  '  ^ — so  it  is  His  good  pleasure  to  hear  and 


1  See  Heb.  iv.  16;  x.  19  and  22  ;   Eph.  ii.  18;  iii.  12. 

'  James  v.  13.  3  Eccl.  Pol.,  v.  48,  4. 

*  James  i.  5.  On  the  word  aTrXci);,  meaning  either  (i)  '  simply,' 
'unconditionally,'  or  (ii)  'liberally,'  see  the  note  in  J.  B.  Mayor, 
The  Epistle  of  St.  James,  p.  36. 

^  Tert.  de  orat.  xxiv. :  '  Orat  omnis  creatura.  Orant  pecudes 
et  ferae  et  genua  declinant,  at  egredientes  de  stabulis  ac  spelun*is 
ad  caelum  non  otioso  ore  suspiciunt.  .  .  .  Sed  et  aves  nunc  ex- 
surgentes  eriguntur  ad  caelum,  et  alarum  crucem  pro  manibus 
extendunt,  et  dicunt  aliquid  quod  oratio  videatur.  Quid  ergo 
amplius  de  of&cio  orationis  ?  ' 

D 


34       THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

to  answer  the  petitions  of  His  rational  creatures.  If  it  be 
objected  that,  according  to  Christ's  own  teaching,  the 
omniscient  Father  knows  what  things  we  have  need  of 
before  we  ask  and  that  therefore  prayer  is  superfluous, 
the  answer  would  seem  to  be  that  man's  request  is  included 
in  that  chain  of  causation  by  which  the  pre-ordained  answer 
to  prayer  is  brought  about.  God  expressly  conditions  the 
bestowal  of  the  gift  or  blessing  that  we  desire  upon  the 
faithful  use  of  prayer.  Every  one  that  asketh  receiveth. 
Just  as  both  in  Nature  and  in  the  order  of  human  society 
{e.g.,  within  the  family  circle)  the  principle  of  prayer — the 
expression  of  need  and  the  request  for  its  satisfaction — 
has  its  recognized  place  and  function  ;  so  in  the  spiritual 
relationship  between  man  and  God,  prayer  is  a  vera  causa 
tending  to  bring  about  definite  effects.  '  God  of  His  own 
bounty  bestows  on  us  many  things  for  which  we  ask  not ; 
but  some  things  He  wiUs  to  bestow  upon  us  when  we  ask 
for  them  ;  and  this  for  our  profit,  in  order  that  we  may 
acquire  confidence  in  resorting  to  Him,  and  that  we  may 
learn  to  acknowledge  Him  as  the  Author  of  all  blessings.'  ^ 
Thus  does  prayer  correspond  to  the  spirituality  of  the 
universe  ;  thus  does  it  become  an  instrument  for  the  train- 
ing of  faith,  of  obedience,  of  holy  desire.  Certainly  Almighty 
God  does  not  require  to  be  instructed  respecting  our  needs  ; 
but  since  it  is  His  will  to  give  in  response  to  our  petitions, 
the  discipline  of  our  desire  is  necessary  in  order  to  enable 
us  profitably  to  receive  His  gifts.  ^ 

Such,  then,  is  the  Christian  conception  of  the  nature  and 
office  of  prayer.     Our  lives  are  under  the  control  of  a  living 

1  T.  Aquinas,  Summa,  ii,  ii*',  83,  2  ad  3  ;  see   the  whole  article. 

*  Aug.  ep.  cxxx.  17  :  '  Dominus  et  Deus  noster  non  voluntatem 
nostram  sibi  [vult]  innotescere,  quam  non  potest  ignorare  ;  sed 
exerceri  in  orationibus  desiderium  nostrum,  quo  possimus  capere 
quod  praeparat  dare.' 


PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION      35 

and  watchful  Providence,  which  so  fore-ordains  and  directs 
the  course  of  nature  as  to  include  in  it  both  man's  prayer 
and  the  response  to  it.^  We  are  accordingly  encouraged 
by  Christ  to  give  the  freest  possible  play  to  the  instinct  of 
prayer.  At  the  same  time,  in  so  doing,  we  are  led  to  follow 
the  guidance  of  Him  Who  has  taught  us  what,  and  how,  we 
should  ask,  and  Who  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  has  given  us  a 
summary  of  all  gifts  and  blessings  that  we  really  need.  We 
are  sure  that  in  using  or  expanding  that  divine  outline  of 
acceptable  prayer  we  are  asking  in  Christ's  Name,  and  may 
be  confident  that  in  due  time  we  shall  obtain  what  we  ask, 
in  that  form  which  will  most  effectually  minister  to  our 
eternal  good.  //  we  ask  anything  according  to  His  will,  He 
heareth  us  ;  and  if  we  know  that  He  heareth  us  whatsoever 
we  ask,  we  know  that  we  have  the  petitions  which  we  have  asked 
of  Him.  We  have  the  petitions,  although  God  answers  '  not 
as  we  ask,  but  as  He  sees  us  to  require.'  ^ 


III 

What,  then,  may  we  gather  from  the  order  and  the  sub- 
stance of  the  different  petitions  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  touching 
the  rightful  objects  of  prayer  ? 

Prayer  in  the  name  of  Christ,  as  we  have  seen,  means 
prayer  in  accordance  with  the  revealed  mind  and  will  of 
God.  Primarily,  it  is  the  effort  of  man's  spirit  to  enter 
into  sympathy  and  correspondence  with  the  divine  pur- 
poses, and  there  is  an  obvious  element  of  truth  in  the  con- 
tention that  the  only  effect  of  prayer  is  to  be  discovered 
in  the  changed  attitude  of  the  suppliant's  own  will,  sub- 
mitting itself  to  the  fixed  order  of  God's  providence  and 

^  Aug.  de  civ.  Dei,  v.  10  :   '  Preces  valent  ad  ea  impetranda  quae 
se  [Deus]  precantibus  concessurum  esse  praescivit.' 

2  I  John  V.  15.     Cp.  Fr.  R,  M.  Benson,  Benedictus  Dominus,  p.  24. 


36        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

not  looking  for  objective  '  answers  '  to  specific  petitions. 
Unquestionably  one  chief  object  of  prayer  is  to  bring  the 
soul  into  harmony  with  the  divine  will,  and  consequently 
to  confirm  faith  and  to  kindle  good  desires.  We  do  not 
pray  either  to  inform  the  Almighty  Father  of  what  He 
does  not  already  know,  or  to  induce  Him  to  alter  His  pur- 
pose in  favour  of  our  individual  desires.^  One  great  benefit 
of  the  habit  of  prayer  is  that  it  educates  the  soul  in  patience, 
in  serenity,  in  quietness  of  mind.  Tranquillus  Deus 
tranquillat  omnia,  et  quietum  aspicere  quiescere  est.^  The 
sense  of  God's  goodness  and  resourcefulness  grows  through 
converse  with  Him,  and  leads  the  soul  to  restful  acquiescence 
in  His  will,  to  trustful  dependence  on  His  power.  It  is 
of  this  subjective  result  of  prayer  that  a  Christian  poet  has 
spoken  in  well-known  lines  : — 

'  Lord,  what  a  change  within  us  one  short  hour 
Spent  in  Thy  presence  will  prevail  to  make  ! 
What  heavy  burdens  from  our  bosoms  take. 
What  parched  grounds  refresh  as  with  a  shower  I 
We  kneel,  and  all  around  us  seems  to  lower  ; 
We  rise,  and  all  the  distant  and  the  near 
Stands  forth  in  sunny  outline,  brave  and  clear. 
We  kneel,  how  weak  ;  we  rise,  how  full  of  power  ! 
Why,  therefore,  should  we  do  ourselves  this  wrong 
Or  others — that  we  are  not  always  strong, 
That  we  are  ever  overborne  with  care. 
That  we  should  ever  weak  or  heartless  be. 
Anxious  or  troubled,  when  with  us  is  prayer, 
And  joy  and  strength  and  courage  are  with  Thee  ?  '  ^ 

1  Calvin  on  Matt.  vi.  8  says  :  '  Neque  enim  orant  fideles  ut  Deum 
admoneant  de  rebus  incognitis,  eum  ad  officium  hortentur  vel  ces- 
santem  soUicitent  :  sed  potius  ut  seipsos  expergefaciant  ad  Ipsum 
quaerendum,  meditandisEjus  promissionibus  fidem  suam  exerceant, 
curas  suas  exonerando  in  Ejus  sinum  se  sublevent,  denique  ut  tes- 
tentur  tam  sibi  quam  aliis  ab  eo  uno  sperare  et  expetere  quicquid 
est  bonorum.'  ^  Bernard,  in  Cant,  xxiii.  i6. 

3  Archbp.  Trench,  Poems,  p.  141  [London,  1886]. 


PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION     37 

But  this  subjective  effect  on  the  character  of  him  who  prays 
is  by  no  means  the  whole  account  of  the  mystery  of  prayer. 
The  very  fact  that  prayer  is  addressed  to  One  Who  is  able 
to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think 
suggests  that  it  sets  in  motion  the  springs  of  an  illimitable 
spiritual  power  :  that  it  can  bring  mighty  things  to  pass  ^ — 
what  the  Gospel  calls  great  things,  strange  things,  glorious 
things.  There  is  no  qualification  in  our  Lord's  ascription 
of  power  unto  God  :  Abba  Father,  all  things  are  possible 
unto  Thee  ;  remove  this  cup  from  Me ;  howbeit,  not  what 
I  will,  but  what  Thou  wilt.^  The  children  of  God  only  do 
justice  to  His  character,  only  take  Him  (so  to  speak)  simply 
at  His  word,  when  they  are  '  men  of  desires/  when  they 
are  filled  with  a  boundless  expectation  of  good,  when  they 
believe  that  prayer  is  a  force — the  greatest  of  forces — at 
work  in  the  universe.  Nevertheless,  the  deepest  desire  of 
which  prayer  is  the  utterance  will  always  be  of  a  spiritual 
kind  :  the  desire,  namely,  to  know  more  of  God's  character, 
to  fulfil  His  will  more  perfectly,  to  share  His  purpose  for 
the  world.  For  the  very  order  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  instructs 
us  that  spiritual  gifts  and  blessings  far  transcend  those 
that  are  earthly  and  temporal.  When  we  pray  for  the 
hallowing  of  God's  Name,  for  the  coming  of  His  kingdom, 
for  the  fulfilment  of  His  will,  we  are  virtually  seeking  a 
single  gift  in  which  all  good  things  are  comprised  :  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  God  has  promised  to  bestow  on 
them  that  ask  Him.^  This  is  in  effect  a  petition  for  such  a 
manifestation  of  divine  power  in  our  hearts  and  lives  as 
may  bring  us  into  perfect  correspondence  with  the  divine 
will.  Thus  to  pray  is  to  seek  for  ourselves  and  for  others 
the  highest  good — the  very  life  of  blessedness.*    We  simply 

1  Psa.  cxviii.  15,  16  [P.B.].  ^  Mark  xiv.  36. 

3  Luke  xi.  13. 

*  So  Augustine  says  to  Proba  [ep.  cxxx.  9)  :   '  Ora  vitam  beatam.' 


38        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

ask,  in  other  words,  that  we  may  be  and  do  and  suffer  all 
that  our  heavenly  Father  wills. 

We  are  taught,  then,  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God,''-  as  the  possession  of  our  own  souls 
and  as  the  goal  of  all  human  endeavour.  Temporal  bless- 
ings, on  the  other  hand,  both  for  ourselves  and  others,  we 
have  the  right  to  seek  in  prayer,  but  not  unconditionally. 
For  we  shall  ever  bear  in  mind,  on  the  one  hand  ,  the  om- 
niscient love  and  wisdom  of  God  ;  on  the  other,  our  own 
*  ignorance  in  asking  '  what  is  really  expedient  for  us.  The 
very  name  '  Father  '  is  a  pledge  that  whatever  it  is  good 
and  necessary  for  us  to  have,  God  is  able  and  wUling  to 
bestow  ;  and  this  thought,  coupled  with  the  sense  of  our 
ignorance,  will  probably  restrain  us,  as  we  advance  in  the 
spiritual  life,  from  too  anxiously  seeking  earthly  blessings 
or  making  our  requests  too  definite.^  Augustine  goes  so 
far  as  to  maintain  that  we  should  not  too  earnestly  deprecate 
for  ourselves,  or  for  those  dear  to  us,  even  pain  and  mis- 
fortune, since  experience  shows  that  these,  too,  may  be  fruitful 
in  blessing  to  the  soul.  Indeed,  as  the  same  writer  else- 
where suggests,  the  mere  fact  that  earthly  prosperity  and 
calamity  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  just  and  the  unjust  alike  may 
well  warn  us  not  to  seek  too  eagerly  those  blessings  which 
are  manifestly  shared  by  evil  men,  nor  basely  shrink  from 
those  misfortunes  which  often  overtake  even  the  righteous.^ 
Nevertheless  we  may  lawfully  ask  for  earthly  things,  not 
as  an  end  in  themselves  nor  as  ministering  merely  to  our 
personal  comfort,  but  in  so  far  as  they  are  either  aids  to 
spiritual  perfection  and  to  the  practice  of  virtue,  or  instru- 

1  Matt.  vi.  33. 

*  Cp.  Aug.  in  Psalm,  liii.  5  :  'In  his  ergo  temporalibus,  fratres, 
admonemus  vos  et  exhortamur,  ut  non  petatis  aliquid  quasi  fixum, 
sed  quod  vobis  Deus  expedire  scit.' 

^  de  civ.  Dei  i.  8. 


PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION      39 

ments  serviceable  to  the  better  fulfilment  of  our  appointed 
calling.  We  may  freely  ask,  in  short,  for  whatsoever  we 
desire,  provided  only  that  we  ask  conditionally :  that  is, 
in  a  spirit  of  due  submission  to  the  divine  will,  and  of  trustful 
confidence  that  He  grants  what  we  ask,  or  withholds  it, 
with  a  higher  knowledge  than  our  own  of  what  is  for  our 
eternal  good.^ 

It  may  be  asked,  however,  Will  not  reverence  always 
restrain  us  from  asking  God  to  intervene,  as  it  were,  in 
the  course  of  Nature  and  to  override  His  own  laws  in  order 
that  some  calamity  that  threatens  us  may  be  averted,  some 
blessing  that  we  earnestly  desire  may  be  bestowed  ?  A 
usually  wise  teacher  puts  this  very  plainly  :  '  We  must  not 
kick  against  the  pricks,  or  beg  that  this  sickness  or  pain, 
the  loss  of  this  beloved  one,  may  be  averted  from  us.  For 
God  has  taught  us  by  many  signs  and  proofs  that  these 
things  are  regulated  by  fixed  laws.  And  is  there  not  a 
kind  of  impiety  in  refusing  to  learn  the  plainest  of  lessons  ?  '  2 

It  may  be  submitted  in  reply  that,  even  in  this  region, 
both  experience  and  analogy  suggest  that,  to  a  degree  far 
greater  than  is  Commonly  realized,  spiritual  forces  interact 
with  those  that  are  merely  physical.  Many  bodily  diseases 
are  caused  or  aggravated  by  conditions  that  are  psychical 

1  T.  Aquin.  Summa,  ii.  ii**,  83,  6  :  '  Temporalia  licet  desiderare, 
non  quidem  principaliter  ut  in  eis  finem  constituamus  ;  sed  sicut 
quaedam  adminicula  quibus  adjuvamur  ad  tendendum  in  beati- 
tudinem,  in  quantum  scilicet  per  ea  vita  corporalis  sustentatur,  et 
in  quantum  nobis  organice  deserviunt  ad  actus  virtutum.'  Augus- 
tine implies  that  a  Christian  may  even  pray  for  wealth  and  honour 
if  his  motive  be  simply  '  ut  ex  his  secundum  Deum  prosit  homini- 
bus  '  [ep.  cxxx.  23). 

2  B.  Jowett,  Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  p.  255.  But  see 
also  p.  273,  where  in  reply  to  a  similar  question  the  writer  says  : 
'  I  will  not  answer  this  question.  For  sometimes  human  feelings 
cannot  be  reasoned  with,  and  there  would  be  a  sort  of  impropriety 
in  attempting  to  resist  them.' 


40        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

rather  than  material.  The  will,  if  it  can  be  enlisted  on 
the  side  of  recovery,  is  often  a  potent  factor  in  the  healing 
of  sickness,  enabling  the  body  to  resist  morbid  conditions 
and  noxious  influences.  If  the  '  self  '  could  be  changed, 
even  the  victims  of  their  own  ungovernable  desires — the 
drunkard  and  the  sensualist — might  win  some  measure  of 
freedom,  health  and  peace  ;  the  misery  of  a  divided  con- 
sciousness might  disappear  and  nature  itself  be  renewed. 
Nay,  what  might  he,  not  infrequently  is  the  case.  In  the 
language  of  St.  Paul,  the  old  man  is  put  off,  and  the  new 
man  put  on  ;  ^  and  prayer  is  the  sovereign  means  by  which 
this  mysterious  change  is  brought  about.  No  limits  can 
be  assigned  to  the  efficacy  of  that  which  enlists  on  the  side 
of  man,  in  his  conflict  with  evil,  spiritual  or  material,  the 
omnipotence  of  God. 

As  we  have  the  right  to  make  known  our  requests  to  God 
in  regard  to  such  things  as  the  recovery  of  a  sick  friend  or 
the  conversion  of  a  sinner,  so  we  are  free  to  pray  for  season- 
able weather,  for  the  removal  of  pestilence,  or  other  visita- 
tions which  are  matters  of  private  or  public  anxiety.  Even 
if  science  could  assure  us  that  the  order  of  nature  is  so 
rigidly  fixed  as  to  be  wholly  unaffected  by  any  causes  other 
than  purely  physical,  we  should  certainly  not  desist  from 
prayer,  though  the  form  of  our  petition  might  be  altered. 
We  should  in  that  case  ask  that  God's  will  might  be  done, 
and  that  we  might  so  love  Him  '  in  all  things  and  above  all 
things  '  2  as  to  find  all  things  working  together  for  good 

1  Eph.  iv.  22,  24. 

2  In  omnibus  et  supra  omnia  :  such  is  the  original  form  in  the 
Missal  of  the  words  in  the  Collect  for  the  sixth  Sunday  after  Trinity, 
'  loving  Thee  above  all  things.' 

In  regard  to  the  point  discussed  in  the  text,  Bp.  Gore,  in  Prayer 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  ch.  iii.,  well  says  :  '  Christians  will  certainly 
go  on  trustfully  commending  their  wishes  about  the  weather  to 
their  heavenly  Father's  attention,  as  well  as  the  health  of  their 


\ 


PRAYER  AND  ITS   PLACE   IN   RELIGION      41 

both  to  ourselves  and  to  those  for  whom  we  interceded. 
Without  asking  for  that  which  we  had  reason  to  beheve 
was  contrary  to  God's  will,  we  should  simply  commend 
ourselves  to  the  perfect  love  and  wisdom  of  a  heavenly 
Father,  confident  of  His  goodwill,  of  His  compassion,  of 
His  power  to  bring  good  out  of  seeming  evil,  and  to  overrule 
even  the  fixed  course  of  nature  in  the  interests  of  His  purpose 
of  grace. 

We  may  briefly  sum  up  what  has  been  said  on  the  subject 
of  prayer  for  temporal  blessings.  We  are  encouraged  by 
the  teaching  of  our  Lord  to  ask  for  everything  we  need  or 
desire  in  so  far  as  God  has  not  plainly  forbidden  us  so  to 
do  either  in  His  Word  or  in  the  order  of  His  natural  provi- 
dence. For,  to  Christians,  the  world  is  a  spiritual  order,  and 
nature  is  ultimately  under  the  control  of  that  which  trans- 
cends it,  namely  a  personal  Being,  supremely  free  and 
powerful,  wholly  loving  and  righteous.^  It  is  only  reason- 
able to  believe  that  in  a  universe,  in  which  the  will  of  man 
to  so  large  an  extent  controls,  modifies  and  directs, to  specific 
ends,  the  forces  of  nature,  there  is  infinite  scope  for  the 
action  of  One  in  Whose  eyes  the  moral  and  spiritual  interests 
of  mankind  are  paramount,  and  Who,  because  He  is  personal 
and  omnipotent,  is  able  to  manifest  Himself  in  ways  which, 

friends,  until  Science  has  got  a  power,  altogether  different  from 
what  it  now  wields,  of  predicting  future  events  in  these  districts 
of  experience.  For  only  such  power  of  prediction  would  make 
it  apparent  that  in  these,  as  in  the  vaster  physical  movements, 
events  are  simply  determined  in  accordance  with  physical  laws, 
without  any  reference  to  moral  or  spiritual  causes.'  Augustine, 
alluding  to  prayers  for  rain  which  had  been  offered  in  his  church, 
says  :  '  It  was  the  utterance  of  our  earnest  desire  to  escape  death 
[by  drought  or  famine].  It  was  not  anything  specially  great  that 
we  asked  of  such  a  Father  '  {serm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  Ivii.  3). 

1  Cp.  Aug.  de  civ.  Dei,  v.  9  :  '  Ipsas  naturales  [causas]  nequaquam 
ab  Illius  voluntate  sejungimus  qui  est  auctor  omnis  conditorque 
naturae.' 


42        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

relatively  to  ordinary  experience,  we  call  '  miraculous.' 
The  fact  that  prayer  is  frequently  answered,  sometimes  in 
very  marvellous  and  unexpected  ways,  testifies  to  the 
reality  and  potency  of  those  spiritual  forces  which,  no  less 
certainly  than  physical  laws,  are  expressions  of  the  divine 
will.  At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in 
all  true  Christian  endeavour  prayer  is  combined  with  work. 
For  we  are  called  to  act  resolutely  and  intelligently  in  the 
sphere  where  God's  laws  are  plain  and  manifest ;  and  in 
the  sphere  where  we  need  direction  and  inspiration  we 
are  to  ask  for  fuller  knowledge  of  the  divine  will,  and  for 
clearer  guidance,  in  order  that,  having  ascertained  the  will 
of  God,  we  may  whole-heartedly  co-operate  with  Him  in 
the  fulfilment  of  His  purposes. 

In  all  this  view  of  prayer  we  find  ourselves  supported 
by  the  spiritual  experience  of  centuries.  Those  who  try 
to  live  and  act  in  the  spirit  of  prayer  are  familiar  enough 
with  the  mysterious  fact  of  answers  to  prayer.  They 
have  again  and  again  put  to  the  proof  the  promises  divinely 
vouchsafed  to  prayer  and  have  not  found  them  to  fail.  It 
is  to  the  teaching  of  experience  that  Tertullian  boldly  appeals 
in  the  closing  chapter  of  his  treatise  on  Prayer  :  ^  '  We 
read  and  we  hear  and  we  believe,'  he  says,  '  the  many  proofs 
of  its  efficacy,'  Through  prayer  men  like  ourselves  have 
actually  obtained  the  grace  of  patience  and  fortitude  in 
suffering,  and  power  to  triumph  over  sin  ;  their  faith  has 
been  strengthened  ;  their  comprehension  of  God's  ways 
enlarged.  Moreover,  prayer  has  manifested  its  power  in 
the  sphere  of  physical  nature  and  in  the  affairs  of  men. 
It  has  wrought  things  greater  and  more  *  than  this  world 
dreams  of,'  Just  as  the  actual  experience  of  divine  forgive- 
ness— of  deliverance  from  the  bondage  of  evil — has  a  history 
reaching  back  to  Him  Who  came  into  the  world  expressly 

^  de  oyations,  xxi  v. 


PRAYER  AND   ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION      43 

to  deal  with  sin  and  its  consequences,  so  prayer,  too,  has  a 
history.  We  are  able  to  point  to  the  long  line  of  those  who 
have  followed  their  Master  in  the  life  of  prayer  ;  who  have 
given  their  testimony  to  its  wonder-working  power ;  who 
out  of  weakness  have  by  it  been  made  strong  ;  who  through 
it  have  won  victories  of  faith  such  as  those  enumerated  in 
Hebrews  xi.  33  foil.  For  prayer  is  the  energy  of  faith 
laying  hold  of  the  promises  of  God  and  responding  to  His 
call ;  of  hope  waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  His  power  ; 
of  love  seeking  an  ever  closer  fellowship  with  Him  in  heart 
and  mind,  in  will  and  character.  Thus  prayer  is,  as  we 
began  by  saying,  the  very  substance  of  religion  ;  it  is  the 
unceasing  ascent  of  the  soul  to  Him  in  Whom  it  finds  its 
solace  and  its  satisfaction,  its  well-spring  of  grace  and  its 
place  of  repose.^  It  is  an  act  in  which  we  place  ourselves 
by  the  side  of  the  incarnate  Son  Himself.  Etiam  Ipse  Domi- 
nus  oravit.  We  endeavour  to  be  what  He  was  :  wholly 
submissive  and  devoted,  wholly  dependent  and  receptive, 
wholly  enkindled  with  desire  to  fulfil  the  will  of  God  and 
to  manifest  His  Name.  In  other  words,  the  object  and 
aim  of  prayer  is  the  development  in  us  of  a  better  and 
nobler  self.  For  all  that  can  in  any  way  contribute  to  this 
we  are  bidden  to  ask,  and  as  our  religion  has  taught  us  to 
seek  for  this  nobler  self — to  become  our  true  selves — only 
in  Christ,  so  the  efficacy  of  prayer  depends  on  the  reality 
and  sincerity  of  our  union  with  Him  in  the  power  of  Whose 
victory  we  may  overcome  the  world.  ^    Yes  :    '  Christian 

1  '  The  Mystic  learns  that  prayer  is  not  an  exercise  for  special 
times  and  places  only,  but  rather  is  like  our  breathing — an  energy 
of  the  soul  which  may  go  on  always,  of  a  soul  which  needs  God  every 
moment,  of  a  soul  that  hves  by  breathing  in  the  Divine  fullness  and 
beatitude.  His  prayer  always  tends  to  simpUcity,  to  become  love, 
to  end  with  the  never-ending  restful  contemplation  of  God  '  (Fr. 
Congreve,  The  Interior  Life,  pp.   190,  191). 

^  I  John  iv.  4  ;  V.  4 ;  John  xvi.  33. 


44        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

prayer  is  the  same  aspiration,  the  same  desire  as  that 
which  raised  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  Jesus  on  earth  to  look 
up  to  heaven  to  contemplate  the  Father.  .  .  .  Prayer  is 
human  desire  that  has  found  man's  essential  need,  and  in 
Christ  has  found  a  voice,  has  become  articulate.'  ^  Its 
object  is  not  this  spiritual  gift  or  that,  this  earthly  blessing 
or  that,  but  God. 

NOTE  {page  28) 

The  Relation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  the  Teaching  of 
THE  Old  Testament 

The  following  passage  from  a  sermon  attributed  to  Bishop 
Andrewes  {serm.  xix.  on  the  Lord's  Prayer)  is  suggestive. 

Starting  from  the  word  '  Amen,'  he  says  :  '  The  reason  of 
retaining  of  it  is,  that  it  might  appear  that  the  synagogue  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  the  true  congregation  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  is  but  one  mystical  body  whereof  Christ  is  the  Head. 
.  .  .  And  indeed  '  (he  continues)  '  there  is  no  petition  in  the 
Lord's  Prayer  which  is  not  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  used 
by  the  Church  of  the  Jews. 

For  that  which  the  Prophet  prayeth,  Lift  up  Thyself,  0  God, 
above  the  heavens  and  Thy  glory  above  all  the  earth :  that  Thy 
way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  etc.  (Ps.  Ivii.  and  Ixvii.),  is  nothing 
else  but  the  hallowing  of  God's  Name. 

Secondly,  Remember  me,  0  God,  that  I  may  see  the  felicity  of 
Thy  chosen  (Ps.  cvi.),  is  nothing  else  but  an  exposition  of  the 
second  petition,  Thy  Kingdom  come. 

Thirdly,  these  words,  Teach  me  to  do  the  thing  that  pleaseth  Thee 
(Ps.  cxliii.),  is  a  full  comprehension  of  the  third  petition,  that 
His  will  be  done. 

Fourthly,  The  eyes  of  all  do  look  upon  Thee,  etc.  (Ps.  cxlv.), 
and  the  prayer  of  Solomon,  Give  me  not  poverty  nor  riches,  but 
feed  me  with  food  meet  (Prov.  xxx.  8),  is  a  full  expressing  of  the 
fourth  petition. 

Fifthly,  My  misdeeds  prevail  against  me,  0  be  merciful  to  our 

^  Fr.  Congreve,  The  Spiritual  Order,  p.  167. 


PRAYER  AND  ITS  PLACE  IN   RELIGION      45 

sins  (Ps.  Ixv.),  is  a  sum  of  the  fifth  petition,  and  the  condition 
of  this  petition  is  Ps.  vii.,  If  I  have  done  any  such  thing  or  if  there 
be  any  wickedness  in  my  hands;  if  I  have  rewarded  evil  to  him 
that  dealt  friendly  with  me  .  .  .  then  let  my  enemy  persecute  my 
soul  (Ps.  vii.  4,  5)  ;  whereby  he  desireth  no  otherwise  to  be  for- 
given of  God  than  as  he  doth  forgive  his  brother. 

Sixthly,  that  which  the  Prophet  prayeth.  Turn  away  my  eyes 
that  they  behold  not  vanity  ;  and  Set  a  watch  before  my  mouth, 
and  keep  the  door  of  my  lips  (Ps.  cxix.  37  and  cxH.  3),  is  that 
which  Christ  teacheth  us  to  pray,  Lead  us  not  into  temptation. 

Seventhly,  Redeem  Israel  from  all  trouble  (Ps.  xxv.),  in  effect 
is  as  much  as,  DeUver  them  from  all  evil,  which  is  the  seventh 
petition. 

Lastly,  look  what  reason  Christ  teacheth  us  to  use  here,  the 
same  doth  David  use  (i  Chron.  xxix.  11). 

Therefore,  having  the  same  prayer  that  the  Jews  had,  it  is 
meet  that  we  should  have  the  same  conclusion  that  they  had, 
and  the  same  is  ;  they  said  Amen,  and  so  do  we.' 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  USE  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  CHRISTIAN 

WORSHIP 

'  Praeceptis  salutaribus  moniti  et  divina  institutione    format!    audemus 
dicere,  Pater  Nosier,  etc' — Sarum  Missal. 

WE  have  already  pointed  out  the  difference  between 
the  two  versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  given,  the 
one  by  St.  Matthew,  the  other  by  St.  Luke.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  version  in  St.  Matthew's  Gospel  has 
been  the  most  influential,  and  that  it  owes  its  somewhat 
expanded  form  to  the  fact  that  from  the  first  it  found  a 
place  in  the  public  worship  of  the  Church. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  some  connexion  between  the 
Lord's  Prayer  as  we  have  it  and  formularies  in  use  among 
the  Jews.  We  shall  see,  in  the  exposition  of  the  several 
clauses,  how  far  each  petition  is  coloured  by  Jewish  liturgical 
language.  There  seems,  however,  to  be  nothing  distinctly 
Jewish  in  the  general  arrangement  of  the  clauses.  Indeed, 
in  the  spirit  and  manner  of  supplication,  there  seems  to  be 
a  marked  contrast  between  extant  Rabbinic  prayers  and 
that  which  was  taught  by  our  Lord.  Further,  most  of  the 
Talmudic  prayers,  if  not  all,  are  apparently  of  much  later 
date  than  the  time  of  Christ.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
undeniable  that  there  were  ancient  petitions  in  use  among 
the  Jews  which,  in  form  at  least,  approach  closely  to  those 
contained  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  The  phrases,  '  Our  Father,' 
*  Our  Father  and  our  King,'  or  even  '  Heavenly  Father,' 
occur    not    unfrequently    in    Jewish    service-books.     The 

46 


THE    LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  WORSHIP  47 

'  Kingdom  '  and  the  '  Name  '  of  God  are  often  mentioned. 
There  are  also  requests  for  '  forgiveness,'  and  for  dehverance 
from  '  temptation,'  sin  and  '  evil '  ;  but  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  these  expressions  '  represent  in  Rabbinism 
something  entirely  different  from  that  which  our  Lord  had 
in  view.'  ^  It  appears,  indeed,  that  our  Lord  did  make 
use  of  phraseology  already  current  among  devout  Jews, 
and  hallowed  by  long  and  sacred  associations.  But  it  is 
the  spirit  and  tendency  of  the  different  petitions,  their 
combination  and  succession  in  a  particular  order,  that  make 
the  Lord's  Prayer  unique.  We  may  suppose  that  Christ 
treated  existing  forms  of  devotion  exactly  as  He  did  the 
Law — not  destroying,  but  fulfilling  ;  and  it  may  be  suggested 
that  those  clauses  which  seem  to  be  wholly  non- Jewish, 
e.g.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  and  Forgive  us  our  tres- 
passes as  we  forgive,  etc.,  were  possibly  inserted  with  some 
reference  to  His  teaching  in  regard  to  the  Eucharist  and 
the  Atonement. 

Here  then,  as  in  other  instances,  the  great  Teacher  of 
mankind  brings  out  of  His  treasure  things  new  and  old  ;  and 
while  in  the  order  and  progressiveness  of  its  thought  the 
Prayer  serves  as  an  education  in  the  art  of  true  and  accept- 
able devotion,  in  the  comprehensiveness  of  its  petitions  it 
gives  expression  to  the  infinitely  varied  needs  of  human  souls. 
It  was  for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
together  with  the  Creed,  was  employed  in  the  Early  Church 
as  a  basis  of  instruction  for  catechumens  in  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  Christ's  religion.  For  the  six  clauses  of  which 
the  Prayer  consists  ^  fall  naturally  into  two  groups  :  the 

1  Edersheim,  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  vol.  i.  p.  536. 
There  are,  of  course,  numerous  passages,  both  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  in  Jewish  writings,  resembling  the  Doxology. 

^  The  division  into  six  clauses  (making  Lead  us  not,  etc.,  but 
deliver  us  from  evil,  sl  single  clause)  seems  to  be  the  most  ancient. 


48       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

first  teaching  the  true  end  of  man — the  service  and  worship 
of  God  ;  the  second,  the  means  necessary  for  the  fulfilment 
of  his  vocation  ;  the  first  corresponding  to  the  great  and 
first  commandment  of  the  Law,  the  love  of  God  ;  the  second 
to  the  love  of  man,  for  the  single  word  '  our '  implies  that 
the  need  of  one  is  the  need  of  all.  Just  as  by  means  of  an 
exposition  of  the  Creed,  candidates  for  baptism  were  taught 
what  to  believe  and  think  concerning  God  ,  so  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  they  were  instructed  how  to  call  on  Him  in  whom 
they  had  learned  to  believe.  ^ 


The  earliest  evidence  we  possess  bearing  upon  the  primi- 
tive use  of  the  Prayer  in  worship  is  found  in  the  eighth 
chapter  of  the  Didache  :  '  Pray  not  as  do  the  hypocrites, 
but  as  the  Lord  commanded  in  His  Gospel.'  The  Lord's 
Prayer  follows, ^  and  then  comes  the  injunction,  '  Thrice 
in  the  day  thus  pray  ye '  ;  suggesting  that  Christians 
already  observed  the  Jewish  custom  of  private  prayer  at 
the  third,  sixth  and  ninth  hours — a  practice  alluded  to  by 
Tertullian  and  commended  by  Cyprian.^  It  would  appear, 
then,  that  the  earliest  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  to  be 
connected,  not  with  the  Liturgy,  but  with  the  private  devo- 
tions of  the  faithful,  and  that  its  introduction  into  the 
stated  daily  services  of  the  Church  belongs  to  a  somewhat 
later  period. 

1  See  Aug.  sermm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  de  or  at.  Dominica  {ad  Compe- 
tentes)  Ivi.,  Ivii. 

*  The  version  is  nearly,  but  not  quite  identical  with  that  of  St. 
Matthew  ;  the  Doxology  is  added  in  the  form,  '  For  Thine  is  the 
power  and  the  glory  for  ever.'  The  same  injunction  is  given  in 
The  Apostolic  Constitutions,  iii.   i8,  vii.  24. 

3  On  the  origin  of  this  observance  of  the  '  canonical  '  hours,  see 
Bingham,  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church,  bk.  xiii,  'ch.  9,  §  8. 
Cp.  Tertull.,  de  jejuniis,  x.  ;   Cyp.,  de  orat.  Dominica,  xxxiv. 


THE   LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  WORSHIP  49 

Meanwhile  it  is  a  noteworthy  point  that  the  use  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  was  confined  to  the  faithful ;  hence  it  was 
known  as  oratio  fidelium  {^vxv  tticttcov).  Augustine  expressly 
says  that '  they  only  have  the  right  to  say  Our  Father,  Which 
art  in  heaven,  who  have  already  been  begotten  again  unto 
the  Father,  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit.'  1  By  the  rule  of 
the  disciplina  arcani,  both  the  Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer 
were  withheld  from  catechumens,  and  were  only  imparted 
to  the  candidates  for  baptism  [competentes)  eight  days  before 
the  actual  administration  of  the  rite.  On  the  eve  of  Palm 
Sunday  (for  example)  they  were  taught  the  Prayer  and 
were  asked  to  repeat  it  for  the  first  time  on  the  very  day 
of  baptism  (the  vigil  of  Easter). 2  In  the  churches  of 
Antioch  and  Jerusalem  it  was  customary  for  the  neophyte, 
having  quitted  the  font  and  having  been  anointed  with 
the  sacred  chrism,  to  turn  to  the  East  and  recite  the  Lord's 
Prayer  immediately  before  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist.' 
Thus  he  was  admitted  to  a  share  in  all  the  privileges  of  the 
faithful,  including  participation  in  the  Eucharist  and  the 
opportunity  of  receiving  instruction  in  the  deeper  mysteries 
of  his  religion. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  was  in  due  course  introduced  as  a 
regular  feature  in  the  daily  services  of  the  Church,  both  in 
the  East  and  the  West.  The  history  of  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  these  daily  '  offices  '  is  obscure  ;  but  so  far  as  the 
available  evidence  goes,  it  shows  that  the  holding  of  two 
such  services  came  to  be  the  established  rule  :  an  early 
morning  ofiice,  apparently  substituted  for  the  primitive 
vigil  or  midnight  ofiice  (Nocturns)  which  had  been  customary 


*  Enchir.  Ixxi. 

"  For  an  account  of  the  ceremonies  of  Christian  initiation,  see 
Duchesne,  Christian  Worship,  ch.  ix.  [S.P.C.K.],  and  Bingham,  op. 
cit.,  i.  4,  3. 

»  Cp.  Const.  Apost.  vii.  44  ;  Chrys.  horn,  in  Ep.  ad  Coloss.,  vi.  370  B. 

m 


50        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

in  the  earliest  times  ;  and  an  evening  service,  held  about 
the  hour  of  the  lighting  of  lamps.  At  each  of  these  services 
it  is  most  probable  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  used,  since 
Tertullian  alludes  to  it  as  '  the  prescribed  and  customary 
prayer  '  {legitima  et  or  dinar  ia  or  alio),  '  prefixed  as  a  kind 
of  foundation  to  all  the  Church's  intercessions.'  ^  A  canon 
of  the  Third  Council  of  Orleans  (538)  required  the  laity 
who  might  be  present  at  the  morning  or  the  evening  service 
not  to  leave  the  church  before  the  recitation  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  the  benediction  of  the  Bishop  (if  present). 2 

In  addition  to  the  two  prescribed  offices  mentioned  above, 
the  services  of  Terce,  Sext  and  None,  corresponding  to  the 
'  canonical  '  hours,  were  apparently  introduced  in  monas- 
teries towards  the  close  of  the  fourth  century.  The  system 
was  completed  by  the  addition  of  complin  and  prime,  some 
time  before  the  close  of  the  fifth  century.  ^  In  all  these 
offices  the  Lord's  Prayer  came  to  be  regularly  used.  It  is 
in  view  of  this  common  use  that  Augustine  calls  it  '  the 
Prayer  of  the  Church,'  and  says  that  it  is  perpetually  recited 
in  obedience  to  the  express  command  of  Christ.* 

In  these  daily  offices  of  the  Church,  the  Lord's  Prayer 
came  in  course  of  time  to  be  employed  in  two  distinct  ways  : 
(i)  as  an  introduction  or  prelude  to  the  service.  This 
gradually  became  the  ordinary  practice  in  monasteries. 
The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  required  the  recital  of  the  Lord's 

^  de  oral.  ix. 

^  See  Bingham,  xiii.  11,  7.  The  canon  runs  [Cone.  in.  Aurel. 
can.  xxviii.)  :  '  De  missis  nullus  laicorum  ante  discedat  quam 
Dominica  dicatur  oratio.'  On  the  use  of  missa  matutina  vel  ves- 
pertina  for  daily  offices,  see  Bingham,  xiii.  i,  4. 

3  The  original  custom  of  public  prayer  twice  daily  tended  to 
perpetuate  itself  as  the  numerous  offices  came  in  medieval  times 
to  be  grouped  together  in  two  main  agglomerations — in  morning 
and  evening  prayer. 

*  serm.  clxxxi.  [al.  xxix.]  de  verb.  Apost.,  6.  For  other  references 
see  Bingham  xiii.  7,  i,  notes. 


THE   LORD'S   PRAYER   IN   WORSHIP  51 

Prayer  before  Mattins  and  Prime.  In  late  medieval  times, 
it  was  recited  together  with  the  Ave  and  the  Credo  as  a 
preparatory  devotion  before  each  of  the  canonical  hours, 
and  also  at  the  close  of  Mattins  and  Evensong.  ^  In  the 
Quignon  Breviary  (1536),  and  in  the  English  Prayer  Book 
of  1549,  ^  similar  usage  was  followed  ;  the  daily  offices 
began  with  the  recital  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  (2)  Again, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  prefaced  as  a  rule  by  the  '  lesser  litany,' 
took  its  place  as  a  regular  part  of  the  prayers  which  followed 
the  recitation  of  the  Psalms  and  reading  of  the  Lections. 
But  even  in  this  context,  it  served  both  as  a  '  foundation  ' 
or  preface  to  subsequent  prayer,  and  as  a  summary  of  the 
special  supplications  that  followed.  Archdeacon  Freeman 
points  out  that  while  the  prayer  apparently  has  a  reference 
to  the  Eucharistic  service,  of  which  '  it  furnishes  in  a  measure 
the  outline,'  it  also  has  a  certain  baptismal  aspect,  derived 
perhaps  from  its  close  connexion  with  the  recitation  of  the 
Creed.  2  This  may  very  possibly  be  the  case  ;  but  it  is 
unquestionable  that  the  Prayer  is  used  as  a  kind  of  summary 
of  all  subsequent  petitions.  It  seems  to  serve  the  same 
function  retrospectively — gathering  up  the  substance  of 
the  preceding  intercessions — in  the  medieval  litanies  and 
in  the  Bidding  prayer  of  which  it  forms  the  natural  close.  ^ 
We  are  here  concerned  only  with  the  general  rationale 
of  the  place  occupied  by  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  daily 
offices  of  the  Church,   and  not  with  special  or  doubtful 

1  C.  Wordsworth,  The  Old  Service  Books  of  the  English  Church, 
p.  84. 

^  Freeman,  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  i.,  pp.  328,  364. 

3  The  same  general  character  of  the  Prayer  as  a  summary  of  peti- 
tions preceding  or  following  is  noticeable  in  the  various  offices  of 
the  medieval  Manual.  It  is  thus  used  in  the  services  of  Holy- 
Matrimony,  Churching  of  Women,  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  and  Burial 
of  the  Dead  :  also  in  the  Ash  Wednesday  service.  On  these  the 
corresponding  of&ces  in  our  present  Prayer  Book  are  based. 


52        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

details.  But  a  word  respecting  the  method  of  reciting  the 
Prayer  will  not  be  superfluous.  In  the  daily  offices  of  the 
West,  the  Prayer,  together  with  the  Creed,  was  usually  said 
silently  or  under  the  breath — a  practice  which  is  presumably 
a  relic  of  the  primitive  concealment  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
from  the  unbaptized.  In  the  Prayer  Book  of  1549,  the 
priest  was  directed  to  begin  the  Lord's  Prayer  '  with  a  loud 
voice  '  instead  of  saying  it  secretly  as  a  part  of  his  private 
preparation.^  It  was  not  till  the  revision  of  1661  that  the 
people  were  directed  to  take  part  in  repeating  the  Prayer ; 
and  a  further  change  was  made  by  the  addition  of  the 
doxology, — a  detail  in  which  the  Revisers  followed  the  usage 
of  the  East  as  against  that  of  the  West.  2 

II 

The  place  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Eucharistic  worship 
next  demands  attention. 

In  this  case  also  we  find  evidence  of  a  threefold  use  of 
the  Prayer  : 

I.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  regarded  as  oratio  fidelium,  has 
ever  since  the  fourth  century  held  in  all  liturgies  a  central 
and  conspicuous  place,  namely  at  the  close  of  the  canon, 
or  prayer  of  consecration.  ^     In  this  connexion  it  has  some- 

1  The  priest  raised  his  voice  at  the  clause  Et  ne  nos  inducas,  etc., 
to  which  the  people  responded  sed  libera  nos  a  malo. 

"  The  doxology  was  apparently  borrowed  by  the  revisers  from  the 
Scottish  Prayer  Book  of  1637.  The  addition  '  has  great  hturgical 
value,  and  there  is  special  reason  for  its  insertion  in  this  place 
where  the  Lord's  Prayer  immediately  follows  the  Absolution  and 
the  moment  is  one  of  praise  '  [New  History  of  the  P.B.,  by  Procter 
and  Frere,  p.  374).  Compare  its  occurrence  in  the  office  for  the 
Churching  of  Women  (1661)  and  in  the  Prayers  for  those  at  sea. 

3  Aug.  ep.  lix  ad  Paulinum,  16,  speaking  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween '  precationes '  and  '  orationes  '  in  i  Tim.  ii.  i,  expressly 
identifies  the  '  orationes  '  with  the  prayer  of  consecration,  and  he 
adds  :  '  Quam  totam  petitionem  fere  omnis  ecclesia  Dominica  ora- 
tione  concludit.' 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  WORSHIP  53 

times  been  described  as  '  the  daily  prayer  '  of  the  Church, 
and  it  was  an  invariable  and  indispensable  feature  of  the 
divine  service.  But  St.  Gregory  of  Rome  draws  attention 
in  one  of  his  letters  to  a  broad  distinction  between  the 
customary  usage  of  the  East  and  of  the  West.  In  the 
East,  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  usually  recited  hy  the  congrega- 
tion, the  priest  alone  adding  the  doxology  ;  in  the  West  it 
was  said  hy  the  priest  secretly,  with  an  elevation  of  his  voice 
at  the  clause  and  lead  us  not,  etc.  The  same  Father  makes 
a  statement  which  has  given  rise  to  much  discussion.  He 
asserts  that  the  Apostles  used  the  Lord's  prayer  only  as 
the  formula  of  consecration.^  The  statement  as  it  stands 
is  unsupported  by  other  evidence  and  is  by  most  authorities 
on  the  subject  dismissed  as  an  error  on  Gregory's  part.  It 
occurs,  however,  in  a  passage  which  seems  to  suggest  that, 
in  the  Roman  use,  the  Lord's  Prayer  had  at  one  time  occurred 
not  as  part  of  the  canon  but  after  the  communion,  and  that  it 
was  transferred  to  the  close  of  the  canon  by  Gregory  him- 
self ;  or  possibly  the  statement  merely  implies  that  Gregory 
wished  to  introduce  the  custom  of  recitation  of  the  Praytr 
by  the  people,  instead  of  recitation,  as  heretofore,  by  the 
celebrant  alone.  ^ 

However  this  may  be,  the  fact  is  sufficiently  clear  that 
the  Lord's  Prayer  has  from  the  earliest  times  been  an  almost 
invariable  feature  of  the  consecration  prayer.^    Its  habitual 

1  Greg,  epist.,  lib.  ix.  ep.  12  (to  John  of  Syracuse),  '  Orationem 
Dominicam  idcirco  mox  post  precem  dicimus,  quia  mos  aposto- 
lorum  fuit,  ut  ad  ipsam  solummodo  orationem  oblationis  hostiam 
consecrarent.'     See  A.  Fortescue,   The  Mass,  A  Study  of  the  Roman 

'  Liturgy,  pp.  362  foil.  ;  WooUey,  The  Liturgy  of  the  Primitive  Church, 
p.  59,  where  the  passage  is  discussed. 

2  So  WooUey  thinks,  op.  cit.,  p.  59. 

3  '  Almost  invariable,'  for  (as  is  well  known)  there  is  no  express 
mention  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  as  closing  the  canon  in  the  Clementine 
liturgy  [Apost.  Const,  viii.)  or  in  that  of  the  Abyssinian  Church,  or 
in  the  liturgy  of  Sarapion.     See  Additional  Note  A  (p.  58). 


54       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

use  in  this  connexion,  probably  suggested  the  idea  that  the 
petition  for  daily  bread  was  primarily  intended  to  refer  to 
the  sacred  gift  of  the  Eucharist. ^ 

2.  At  a  later  time,  which  cannot  be  precisely  determined, 
the  Lord's  Prayer  was  prefixed  to  the  Eucharistic  service 
as  a  preparatory  devotion  for  the  priest  before  proceeding 
to  the  altar.  This  use  of  it  seems  to  have  been  customary 
in  some  parts  of  the  East  at  a  very  early  date.^  In  the 
developed  Eastern  rites,  however,  it  usually  formed  part 
of  the  preliminary  office  (eVapIt?)  in  the  sacristy,  which 
gradually  developed  into  a  highly  elaborate  function.  It 
is  thus  used  in  the  Nestorian  rite  and  in  the  present  liturgy 
of  St.  Chrysostom.^  The  Sarum  office  of  preparation 
included  the  Veni  Creator,  a  collect  for  purity,  the  psalm 
Judica  me,  Deus  (xliii.)  with  antiphon,  the  lesser  litany 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  besides  the  mutual  confession  and 
absolution,  etc.,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  In  the  Edwardine 
Prayer  Book  of  1549  ^his  preparatory  service  of  the  priest 
was  curtailed  and  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  congregation 
also.  Thus  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  ancient  Collect  for 
purity  were  henceforth  recited  as  a  kind  of  public  prepara- 
tion for  the  service  by  priest  and  people  together  ;  but  the 
older  significance  of  the  prayer  is  attested  by  the  traditional 
custom  according  to  which  the  priest  alone  recites  it,  the 
congregation  not  even  joining  in  the  Amen."^ 

1  See  especially  Cyp.,  de  orat.  Domin.  xviii.,  and  the  exposition 
of  the  prayer  in  the  de  Sacramentis,  v.  4,  where  the  '  daily  bread  ' 
is  thus  explained,  the  writer  adding  '  Accipe  quotidie  quod  quo- 
tidie  tibi  prodest ;    sic  vive  ut  quotidie  merearis  accipere.' 

^  Freeman,  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  ii.,  pp.  313,  389. 

3  See  F.  E.  Brightman,  Liturgies,  Eastern  and  Western,  pp.  252, 

353- 

*  Cp.  Luckock,  The  Divine  Liturgy,  p.  70.  He  points  out  that 
this  public  recitation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  violated  two  liturgical 
principles  :    (i)  that  of  prefixing  some  kind  of  reverential  preface 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  WORSHIP  55 

3.  To  return,  however,  to  the  employment  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  as  an  integral  feature  of  the  Eucharistic  service  : 
there  are  indications  that,  in  some  liturgies  at  any  rate,  the 
Prayer  occurred  not  only  as  the  climax  of  the  Canon,  but 
also  as  a  thanksgiving  said  by  priest  and  people  together 
after  communion.^  It  is  thus  used  in  the  Nestorian  rite 
and  in  that  of  the  Abyssinian  Jacobites, ^  The  evidence 
of  The  Testament  of  our  Lord  points  to  the  same  conclusion. 
There  appears,  then,  to  be  a  strong  case  in  favour  of  the 
change  made  in  our  English  liturgy  in  1552,  when  it  was 
directed  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  should  be  said  by  the  priest 
after  communion,  '  the  people  repeating  after  him  every 
petition.'  This  was  in  effect  a  return  to  the  usage  of  the 
Eastern  and  Gallican  Churches ;  but  it  also  implied  a 
deeper  and  more  primitive  view  of  the  act  of  sacramental 
communion :  namely,  that  the  entire  service  finds  its 
culminating  point  not  in  the  consecration,  but  in  the  recep- 
tion of  the  elements  by  the  worshippers,  through  which  the 
individual  soul  enters  into  fellowship  with  Christ  and  with 
His  whole  Body  the  Church.  Nothing  can  be  conceived 
more  fitting  and  appropriate  than  the  recital  of  the  '  prayer 
of  brotherhood  '  by  those  who  have  been  knit  together,  by 
participation  in  the  Redeemer's  Body  and  Blood,  in  one 
divine  communion  and  fellowship.  Thus  the  Prayer  may 
be  regarded  as  forming  an  essential  part  of  the  great  sacrificial 
act  of  the  Church  ;  in  using  it  after  Communion,  the  Church 
'  offers  herself,  one  with  Christ  as  a  Body  with  its  Head  .  .  . 

to  the  saying   of  the  Prayer  [see  additional  note,  B,  p.  58  below)  ; 
(ii)  that  of  concealing  the  oratio  fidelium  from  catechumens. 

1  See  Woolley,  pp.  131  foil.,  and  the  passages  of  the  de  Sacra- 
mentis  to  which  he  refers.     See  also  Note  C  (p.  59) 

2  See  Brightman,  op.  cit.,  p.  303  (Nestorian)  ;  p.  242  (Abyssin- 
ian). In  the  modern  Liturgy  of  St.  Chrysostom,  the  Lord's  Prayer 
occurs  in  the  short  office  of  dismissal,  said  in  the  sacristy  after  the 
seryice  {Ibid.,  p.  399). 


56     THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

that  her  whole  fellowship,  both  the  living  and  the  dead, 
having  their  sins  forgiven  through  the  participation  of 
Christ,  may  be  accepted  with  all  their  good  works  and 
prayers  "  in  the  Beloved."  And  in  the  self-oblation  of 
the  Church  is  the  culmination  of  the  sacrifice.'  ^  The 
Church  itself,  as  Augustine  points  out,  is  the  Body  of  Christ 
which  constitutes  the  sacrifice.  It  is  in  harmony  with  the 
note  of  thanksgiving  that  in  our  liturgy,  as  in  the  Eastern 
rites,  the  doxology  is  appended  to  the  Prayer. 

It  is  to  be  much  regretted  that  one  ancient  usage  has  for 
the  present  at  least  disappeared  from  the  Anglican  liturgy, 
namely,  the  solemn  and  reverential  preface  to  the  Lord's 
Prayer  which  is  a  feature  of  almost  all  extant  liturgies. 
The  use  of  the  Prayer  was,  indeed,  a  privilege  open  to  aU 
baptized  persons,  but  in  the  Liturgy  it  was  almost  always 
preceded  by  a  petition  that  the  worshippers  might  be 
found  worthy  to  utter  a  Prayer  taught  by  our  Lord  Himself. 
To  take  a  few  typical  examples,  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James 
(Syrian)  introduces  the  Lord's  Prayer  as  follows  : 

'  Count  us  worthy,  O  Lord,  lover  of  man,  with  confidence, 
without  condemnation,  with  pure  heart,  with  contrite  soul, 
with  face  unashamed,  with  sanctified  lips,  to  be  bold  to 
invoke  Thee,  the  Holy  God  in  heaven,  as  our  Father,  and 
to  say,'  etc, 2 

The  following  are  from  other  liturgies  : 

'  Bestow  upon  us  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  that  with  a  pure  heart 
and  an  enlightened  conscience,  with  face  unconfounded 
and  faith  unfeigned,  with  perfect  love  and  stablished  hope, 
we  make  bold  in  fearless  confidence  to  say  the  holy  Prayer 


1  Bp.  Gore,  The  Body  of  Christ,  pp.  212,  213.  Bp.  Gore  points  out 
that  this  is  a  leading  feature  in  St.  Augustine's  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist.  See  the  passages  of  the  de  civitate  mentioned  p.  208, 
especially  de  civ.  x.  6 ;  xx.  10. 

*  ^rightman,  op.  cit.,  p.  59.      For  the  Byzantine  use  see  p.  391. 


I 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  WORSHIP  57 

which  Thy  beloved  Son  gave  to  His  own  holy  disciples  and 
saintly  apostles,  saying  unto  them,  For  at  all  times  so  ye 
be  going  to  pray,  pray  on  this  wise  and  say,'  etc.^ 

'  Account  us  worthy,  with  the  boldness  which  is  of  Thee 
to  pray  before  Thee  this  pure  and  holy  prayer  which  Thy 
life-giving  mouth  taught  to  Thy  true  disciples,  the  sons  of 
Thy  mysteries.  Whensoever  ye  pray  after  this  manner  pray 
ye  and  confess  and  say,'  etc.^ 

'  Admonished  by  His  saving  precepts  and  guided  by  the 
divine  instruction  we  are  bold  to  say,  Our  Father,'  etc' 

It  has,  moreover,  been  customary  to  expand  the  last 
petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  what  was  called  by  Easterns 
the  Embolism  ('  interpolation  ').  This  was  perhaps  originally 
a  reminiscence  of  the  litany  which  in  ancient  times  pre- 
ceded the  Eucharistic  service.*  An  early  example  is  found 
in  the  liturgy  of  St.  James  :  '  And  lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion, O  Lord,  Lord  of  hosts,  who  knowest  our  infirmity  ; 
but  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one  and  from  his  works  and 
from  all  malice  and  guile  of  his  for  the  sake  of  Thy  holy 
name.'  ^ 

The  liturgy  of  St.  Mark  has  :  '  Yea,  Lord,  Lord,  lead  us 
not  into  temptation  but  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one  ;  for 
Thy  compassion  knoweth  that  we  are  not  able  to  endure, 
owing  to  our  great  infirmity  ;  but  with  the  temptation  make 
also  the  way  of  escape  that  we  may  he  able  to  endure  it ;  for 
Thou  didst  give  us  power  to  tread  upon  serpents  and  scor- 
pions and  over  all  the  power  of  the  enemy.'  ® 

1  Brightman,  op.  cit.,  p.  182  (Liturgy  of  Coptic  Jacobites). 

2  Ibid.,  295  (Nestorian). 

3  Roman  and  Sarum.  The  same  form  (in  English)  occurs  in 
the  P.B.  of  1549,  and  in  the  Scottish  P.B.  of  1637. 

*  See  Freeman,  The  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  ii.,  p.  323. 
5  Brightman,  p.  60. 

^  Brightman,  p.  136.  In  the  Byzantine  Rite  the  emboUsm  is 
lacking.     For  the  Roman  embolism  see  additional  note  D  (p.  59). 


58        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

In  our  English  liturgy,  the  retention  of  the  Embolism 
may  have  been  thought  inconsistent  with  the  present 
position  and  intention  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  That  inten- 
tion is  sufficiently  clear.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  recited  after 
reception  of  the  elements,  is  an  utterance  of  thankful  self- 
oblation.  In  it  the  worshipper  gives  thanks  for  the  divine 
gift  he  has  received,  and  dedicates  himself  afresh,  with 
all  his  faculties  of  body,  soul  and  spirit,  to  the  service  of 
the  living  God,  in  union  with  the  whole  Church  which  in 
the  Eucharist  commemorates  and  proclaims  the  sacrifice 
of  the  Redeemer  till  He  come. 

ADDITIONAL  NOTES 

The  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Canon 

A  {see  page  53) 

The  facts  are  summarized  by  Mr.  Srawley,  The  Early  History 
of  the  Liturgy,  p.  217,  as  follows  :  '  The  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  the  liturgy  is  attested  by  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  and  probably 
by  Chrysostom,  but  it  is  absent  from  the  Apostolic  Constitu- 
tions, and  there  is  no  certain  evidence  for  its  use  in  Egypt  in 
the  fourth  century.  Nor,  again,  is  there  any  explicit  mention 
of  it  in  connexion  with  the  liturgy  in  North  Africa  before  Opta- 
tus  [c.  363].  This  absence  of  evidence  may  be  partly  accidental, 
but  we  must  allow  for  the  possibility  that  its  introduction  into 
the  liturgy  was  only  slowly  adopted  in  some  Churches.' 

B  [see  page  55) 

The  Significance  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Office  of 
Preparation  for  Communion 

Freeman,  The  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  ii,  p.  448, 
writes  :  '  The  eucharistic  Lord's  Prayer — His  own  vestibule 
to  His  own  holy  temple — will  be  pregnant  indeed  with  meaning 
in  this  its  ancient  position.  It  is  specially  to  be  viewed  as  a 
solemn  request  to  be  admitted  to  our  Father's  house  by  the 
divine  ministry  of  the  incarnate  Son  Himself,  now,  as  of  old, 
waiting  upon  us  in  lowliest  guise,  in  the  person  of  His  ministers, 
to  wash  our  feet,  to  soothe  our  penitential  sorrows  and  fears. 


THE   LORD'S   PRAYER   IN   WORSHIP  59 

to  enlighten  our  ignorance,  to  sanctify  our  whole  being,  to  carry 
us  in  very  deed,  though  in  deepest  mystery,  in  the  accepted 
gifts  of  His  own  Body  and  Blood,  into  that  glorious  Presence  and 
Home  ;  finally,  to  "  break  "  to  us,  in  our  still  abiding  estate  of 
orphanhood  here  below,  "  the  bread  of  mourners,"  and  pour 
for  us  "  the  cup  of  consolation."  ' 

C  {i>age  55) 
The  Evidence  of  the  Book  de  Sacramentis. 

The  six  books  of  the  treatise  de  sacramentis,  addressed  to 
the  newly  baptized,  and  evidently  modelled  on  St.  Ambrose's 
work  de  mysteriis,  have  been  attributed  to  Maximus  of  Turin 
(c.  451-465),  but  in  any  case  they  belong  to  the  period  before  the 
pontificate  of  Gregory  I  (590-604).  The  treatise  is  a  valuable 
witness  to  the  structure  of  the  early  Roman  rite.  In  book  V 
some  portions  of  the  canon  are  preserved.  It  seems  clear  that 
in  the  period  before  590  the  Lord's  Prayer  occurred  twice  in 
the  Mass.  It  was  said  by  the  celebrant  at  the  end  of  the  canon 
and  was  apparently  followed  by  a  rich  doxology.  It  also  seems 
to  have  occurred  after  the  communion,  being  said  privately  by 
communicants  as  an  act  of  thanksgiving.  '  Here,'  says  Mr. 
Woolley  {The  Liturgy  of  the  Primitive  Church,  pp.  60,  61),  '  we 
find,  lingering  on,  a  sign  of  the  older  use,  in  which,  after  com- 
munion, the  people  said  the  Lord's  Prayer  as  an  act,  or  as  part 
of  an  act,  of  thanksgiving.  In  the  process  of  development  and 
in  the  gradual  hedging  of  the  mystery,  the  Lord's  Prayer 
became  confined  to  the  priestly  act  of  consecration.  But  already 
in  the  canon  of  the  de  sacramentis,  the  Lord's  Prayer  has  the 
same  position  as  in  St.  Gregory's  days.' 

D  {j)age  57) 

The  Embolism  at  the  close  of  the  Roman  and  Sarum  Canon 

'  Libera  nos,  quaesumus,  Domine,  ab  omnibus  mails  prae- 
teritis,  praesentibus  et  futuris  ;  et  intercedente  beata  et  gloriosa 
semper  Virgine  Dei  genetrice  Maria,  cum  beatis  apostolis  tuis 
Petro  et  Paulo  atque  Andrea  et  omnibus  Sanctis  :  da  propitius 
pacem  in  diebus  nostris,  ut  ope  misericordiae  tuae  adjuti,  et  a 
peccato  simus  semper  liberi,  et  ab  omni  perturbatione  securi : 
Per  eundem,'  etc. 


CHAPTER   IV 

'OUR  FATHER,  WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN' 

(St.  Matthew) 

'FATHER'  (St.  Luke) 

'  Pater  arcani  et  ineffabilis  sacramenti  vocabulum  est.' — Rufinus. 

THE  title  by  which  Almighty  God  is  here  addressed 
was  already  familiar  to  the  Jews.  In  the  Old  Testa- 
ment God  is  called  '  Father,'  in  the  sense  that  He  has  created 
Israel  and  formed  it  for  His  praise  ;  that  He  has  manifested 
His  fatherly  goodwill  and  compassion  in  redeeming  His 
people  from  bondage.^  Indeed,  the  very  phrases,  '  Our 
Father,'  '  Your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,'  are  actually 
found  in  Rabbinic  writings.  ^  But  in  its  spirit  and  scope, 
how  unlike  is  this  clause  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  an  ordinary 
Jewish  petition  !  It  is  not  addressed  to  the  '  Lord  God  of 
Israel '  nor  to  the  '  God  of  our  Fathers.'  It  introduces  a 
prayer  in  which  no  single  expression  suggests  the  idea  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  true  God  is  the  peculiar  possession  of  Israel. 
The  name  '  Father '  encourages  every  son  of  man  to  look 
heavenward  for  the  pardon,  sympathy  or  help  that  he  needs. 
Even  the  Jews  are  encouraged  to  call  God  '  Father,'  not  by 
the  express  teaching  of  their  Law,  but  by  the  promises 

1  Isa.  xliv.  24 ;    cp.  Ixiii.  6  ;    Deut.  xxxii.  6  ;    Ps.  Ixxxix.  6. 

*  C.  Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers  comprising  '  Pirqe 
Aboth,'  p.  124,  mentions  a  saying  attributed  to  R.  Jehudah  ben 
Thema  :  '  Be  bold  as  a  leopard,  and  swift  as  an  eagle,  and  fleet  as 
a  hart,  and  strong  as  a  lion,  to  do  the  will  of  thy  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.' 

60 


'OUR  FATHER,  WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN'     6i 

of  prophecy.  By  so  doing  they  profess  their  hope  of  a 
redemption  yet  to  come  ;  Christians  calUng  on  the  Father 
express  their  faith  in  a  redemption  already  accomphshed, 
and  their  hope  of  a  salvation  ready  to  he  revealed  in  the  last 
time.''- 

I 

The  doctrine  of  the  divine  Fatherhood  is  usually  spoken 
of  as  having  been  first  revealed  to  mankind  by  our  Lord. 
But  our  first  impression  on  reading  the  gospels  is  that 
the  fatherly  character  of  God,  and  His  fatherly  relationship 
to  men,  are  always  presupposed  and  taken  for  granted  in 
the  teaching  of  Christ.  He  seems  to  appeal  to  what  is 
most  simple  and  elemental  in  men's  thoughts  concerning 
God.  He  would  have  them  believe  whole-heartedly  in  the 
reality  of  that  filial  relationship  to  the  great  Creator  which 
is  attested  by  their  own  primary  instincts.  Nature  itself 
suggests,  as  St.  Paul  pointed  out  to  the  Athenians,  quoting 
a  passage  from  their  own  poets,  that  we  are  the  offspring  of 
God}  Wherever  men  have  connected  with  the  idea  of  God 
a  providence  which  watches  over  them,  a  care  which  antici- 
pates their  needs,  a  pity  which  compassionates  their  ignor- 

1  I  Pet.  i.  5.  Cp.  T.  Mangey,  Practical  Discourses  upon  the  Lord's 
Prayer  [London,  1721],  p.  11,  note.  As  regards  the  doctrine  of  the 
divine  Fatherhood  in  the  Old  Testament,  it  is,  broadly  speaking, 
true  that  Jehovah  is  occasionally  represented  as  the  Father  of  the 
nation  in  the  canonical  books  ;  as  the  Father  of  individual  Israelites 
in  certain  passages  of  the  Apocrypha  (cp.  Ps.  ciii.  13).  The  title 
'  Son  '  is  applied  to  the  Theocratic  king,  regarded  as  a  type  of  the 
Messiah  (Ps.  ii.  and  Ixxxix.). 

2  Acts  xvii.  28,  29.  Cp.  Lactantius,  div.  inst.  iv.  3  :  '  Omnem 
deum  qui  ab  homine  colitur  necesse  est  inter  solennes  ritus  et  pre- 
cationes  patrem  nuncupari  ;  non  tantum  honoris  gratia,  verum 
etiam  rationis  ;  quod  et  antiquior  est  homine  et  quod  vitam, 
salutem,  victum  praestat  ut  pater.  Itaque  et  Juppiter  a  precanti- 
bus  pater  vocatur,'  etc.  See  also  Warde  Fowler,  The  Religious 
Experience  of  the  Roman  People,  p.  155,  who  quotes  this  passage. 


62        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

ance,  a  righteousness  which  chastises  their  sins,  they  ascribe 
to  Him  in  effect  the  attributes  of  Fatherhood.  Nevertheless, 
in  the  teaching  of  Christ  the  doctrine  obviously  receives  a 
vast  enrichment.  Not  only  was  God  from  all  eternity  a 
Father  in  virtue  of  His  relation  to  the  only-begotten  Son 
in  Whom  He  manifests  His  Name  and  His  glory.  In  relation 
to  mankind  the  very  essence  of  His  '  fatherliness  '  is  seen 
to  consist  in  His  infinite  willingness  to  communicate  Himself 
to  His  offspring  ;  to  impart  to  them,  according  to  the 
measure  of  their  capacity.  His  own  spiritual  attributes  ; 
to  make  them,  by  His  own  free  gift,  partakers  of  the  divine 
nature.  '  God  is  Father  in  the  sense  of  being  One  Who,  on 
the  appeal  of  His  children,  is  ready  to  put  forth  His  infinite 
power  to  help  them  when  they  cannot  help  themselves.  .  .  . 
All  that  I  have  is  thine — that  is  the  constant  attitude  of  true 
fatherly  love,  and  therefore  of  our  heavenly  Father's  love  ; 
all  that  He  has  is  ours  '  :  the  treasure  of  His  grace,  the 
riches  of  His  glory  and  the  fullness  of  His  might.  '  The 
Fatherhood  of  God,  in  the  Christian  form  of  the  conception, 
involves  all  that  our  Lord  teaches  about  the  availableness 
of  the  supernatural.'  ^ 

We  may  say,  then,  that  what  our  blessed  Lord  presupposes 
and  takes  for  granted  in  His  teaching  about  God  is  tanta- 
mount to  a  new  revelation  of  Deity.  We  know  God,  as 
Father  through  and  in  Jesus  Christ.  Whosoever  denieth 
the  Son,  the  same  hath  not  the  Father ;  he  that  confesseth 
the  Son  hath  the  Father  also.  No  one  knoweth  .  .  .  who  the 
Father  is,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth 
to  reveal  Him.  ^  Only  in  so  far  as  we  have  the  mind  of  Christ 
and  share  His  spirit  of  dependence  and  trust  do  we  '  know  ' 

1  A.  G.  Hogg,  Christ's  Message  of  the  Kingdom,  pp.  150,  151. 
See  Additional  Note,  p.  75. 

'  I  John  ii.  23  ;  Luke  x.  22.  Cp.  Bern,  in  Cant.  viii.  3  :  '  Alter 
enim  sine  altero  nequaquam  innotescit.' 


'OUR  FATHER.   WHICH   ART   IN   HEAVEN'     63 

the  Father  and  pray  to  Him  aright.  Only  in  Christ — only 
through  incorporation  into  His  Body  by  baptism — do  we 
rightfully  enjoy  the  privilege  of  adopted  children  and  have 
boldness  to  call  God  '  Father,'  and  to  claim  His  promises. 
In  praying  thus,  we  pray  in  union  with  Him  ;  we  are  guided 
and  inspired  by  His  Spirit.  It  is  the  witness  of  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  in  our  hearts  that  emboldens  us  to  utter  the 
children's  appeal  and  to  cry  Ahha,  Father.'^ 

We  cannot  wonder  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  enshrined 
in  the  heart  of  the  Early  Church  as  a  treasure  not  to  be 
lightly  dispensed  ;  that  it  was  regarded  as  a  mystery  to  be 
withheld  from  the  unbelieving  and  the  uninitiated  ;  that 
the  knowledge  of  it,  and  the  right  to  use  it,  was  restricted 
to  '  the  faithful,'  who  had  a  right  to  communicate  at  the 
altar,  where  they  would  hear  it  repeated  at  the  culminating 
moment  of  the  eucharistic  oblation.  ^ 

Accordingly,  the  Christian's  sense  of  sonship  does  not 
originate  merely  in  the  fact  that  he  is  a  being  created  in 
God's  image,  and  that  in  nature — in  the  possession  of  reason 
and  will — he  is  akin  to  his  Creator.  He  calls  God  '  Father  ' 
in  virtue  of  a  life  which  he  possesses  only  in  Christ,  Who  not 
merely  declares  the  fact  of  our  sonship,  but  Himself  mediates 
and  bestows  it.  As  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He 
the  right  to  become  children  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on 
His  Name.^  Our  sonship  is  at  once  a  truth  of  revelation 
and  a  gift  of  grace. 

At  the  same  time,  in  revealing  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 

1  Rom.  viii.  15,  16  ;  Gal.  iv.  5,  6.  Aug.,  Enchir.  Ixxi.  :  '  Eorum 
est  enim  dicere  Pater  noster  qui  in  caelis  es  qui  jam  Patri  tali 
regenerati  sunt  ex  aqua  et  Spiritu.' 

2  Hence  its  title,  evxv  ttlc^tuv,  oratio  fidelium. 

3  John  i.  12,  13.  Augustine  dwells  on  the  ungrudging  love  of 
the  divine  Son,  who  though  He  was  the  '  Only-begotten  Son,'  yet 
'  deigned  to  have  brethren,'  and  to  share  His  inheritance  with  those 
for  whom  He  died  {serm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  de  orat.  Domin.  Ivii.). 


64        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

our  Lord  re-enforces  the  teachings  of  natural  reHgion  and  of 
Hebrew  prophecy.  He  ascribes  to  the  Father  all  those 
attributes  which  inspired  thought  and  devotion  had  ascribed 
to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel :  omnipotence,  separation  from  the 
world,  moral  transcendence,  holiness.  The  Father  Whom 
He  proclaims  is  a  heavenly  Father,  in  Whom  lovingkindness 
and  creative  compassion  are  blended  with  '  exquisite  justice  ' 
and  incomparable  majesty.  If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father, 
Who  without  respect  of  persons  judgeth  according  to  each 
man's  work,  pass  the  time  of  your  sojourning  here  in  fear.  ^ 
Thus  writes  St.  Peter,  expressing  the  sacred  paradox  implied 
in  Christ's  revelation  of  God :  Our  Father :  therefore  near  us 
and  in  us  ;  Our  Father  in  heaven  :  therefore  infinitely  ex- 
alted above  us  ;  Our  Father  :  therefore  the  object  of  child- 
like trust  and  dependence  ;  In  heaven  :  therefore  the  object 
of  sacred  reverence  and  awe.^  We  may  truthfully  say  that 
the  divine  Fatherhood  is  the  central  doctrine  of  the  Gospel — 
that  which  gives  colour  to  all  its  teaching  about  God.  Never- 
theless, the  other  attributes  of  Deity  are  necessarily  present 
to  our  minds  when  we  pray,  not  only  with  the  spirit,  as  St. 
Paul  says,  but  with  the  understanding  also.^ 

The  prayer  of  Christian  faith  is,  in  fact,  the  fruit  of  a  new 
spiritual  impulse.  It  corresponds  to  a  new  outlook  upon 
life,  a  new  insight  into  its  meaning  and  issues.  The  word 
'  Father  '  suggests  the  idea  of  steadfast  lovingkindness  as 
that  which  controls  and  conditions  the  exercise  of  creative 
and  sustaining  might.  It  gives  the  needful  clue  for  a  re- 
interpretation  of  the  universe  ;  of  human  nature  and  its 
possibilities  ;    of  man's  relation  to  his  fellows  ;    of  those 

1  I  Pet.  i.  17. 

*  Cp.  Iren.,  c.  haer.  iv.  16,  5  :  The  Law  of  Christ  '  auxit  etiam 
timorem  :  filios  enim  plus  timere  oportet  quam  servos,  et  majorem 
dilectionem  habere  in  patrem.' 

3  I  Cor.  xiv.  15. 


'OUR  FATHER,  WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN'    65 

awe-inspiring  facts  of  life — sin,  temptation,  pain,  sorrow 
and  death — which,  for  multitudes  of  mankind,  conceal  the 
real  character,  and  obscure  the  spiritual  purpose,  of  the 
Creator.  The  name  '  Father,'  perfectly  understood  in  its 
full  depth  of  meaning,  implicitly  contains  all  that  makes 
up  the  content  of  religion  and  of  moral  obligation.  More- 
over, it  tends  to  awaken  in  man  the  element  of  emotion  and 
desire  ;  it  kindles  love  and  aspiration — the  motive  power  of 
the  new  life,  the  life  unto  God,  to  which  we  are  called.  It 
invests  the  sternness  of  duty  with  a  new  glory  ;  it  deepens 
the  dread  significance  of  sin  ;  it  opens  to  man  the  vision  of 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  ^ 
He  who  calls  God  '  Father,'  in  this  one  simple  title  confesses 
his  belief  in  the  reality  of  forgiveness,  in  the  possibility 
of  redemption,  in  the  manifestation  of  the  divine  Spirit 
and  of  the  divine  Kingdom,  in  the  ultimate  fulfilment 
of  the  divine  purpose  to  restore  all  things,  to  sum  up  all 
things  in  Christ.^  For  the  Fatherhood  of  God  is  a  pledge 
that  the  work  of  His  hands  is  continually  the  object  of  His 
care  ;  ^  that  He  directs  and  controls  the  issues  of  life  ;  that 
the  world  is  a  spiritual  order  in  which  there  is  no  blind 
chance  ;  in  which  no  life  is  '  upheld  for  naught '  nor  '  walks 
with  aimless  feet ' ;  in  which  prayer  is  not  fruitless,  nor 
labour  vain,  nor  suffering  purposeless  ;  but  to  them  that 
love  God,  all  things  work  together  for  good^  We  may  venture 
to  think  that  just  as  the  first  recorded  utterance  of  the 
incarnate  Son  is  a  dedication  of  His  life  to  the  service  of  the 
Father,  so  His  last  word  upon  the  Cross  is  a  supreme  act 
of  trust  in  the  creative  compassion  and  power  of  Him  Who 
is  the  life  and  final  home  of  every  human  soul.^      , , 


1  2  Pet.  iii.  13.  i"  Matt.  xvii.  11  ;    Eph.  i.  10. 

3  Cp.  the  appeal  of  Job  x.  4-12. 

*  Rom.  viii.  28.  s  Lvike  ii.  49;    xxiii.  46. 


66        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

H 

We  may  consider  somewhat  more  closely,  though  by  no 
means  exhaustively,  what  is  implied  in  the  invocation  of 
Our  Father,  ■which  is  in  heaven. 

(i)  The  word  '  Father  '  encourages  us  to  have  confidence 
in  the  power  of  prayer.  We  approach  a  Being  to  Whom  in 
nature  we  are  akin  :  One  Who  knoweth  our  frame,  Who 
understandeth  our  thought  afar  off,  Who  knoweth  what  things 
we  have  need  of  before  we  ask.^  '  I  speak  to  thee,'  writes 
the  author  of  The  Imitation,  '  to  Thee  Who  knowest  all 
things  ;  to  Whom  all  my  inward  thoughts  are  open,  and 
Who  alone  canst  perfectly  comfort  and  help  me.  Thou 
knowest  what  good  things  I  stand  in  most  need  of,  and  how 
poor  I  am  in  all  virtue.''  ^  Xhe  children  of  God  make  known 
to  Him  all  their  wants,  whether  of  body  or  soul,  trusting  in 
His  providential  care,  in  His  freedom  and  willingness  to 
give.  Their  eyes  wait  upon  Him,  not  only  as  the  Sustainer 
of  the  bodily  life,  but  as  the  Source  of  all  grace,  the  Father 
of  spirits.  Who,  in  calling  men  to  fulfil  the  true  law  of  their 
nature,  bids  them  seek  from  Him  the  living  power  that  will 
enable  them  to  respond  to  His  gifts  and  His  purpose.  This 
temper  of  dependence  is  of  the  essence  of  the  Christian 
character ;  it  is  the  chief  element  in  that  child-likeness 
which  none  can  produce  in  himself  but  which  is,  as  Christ 
affirms,  a  new  nature,  a  birth  from  above.  ^  In  calling  God 
'  Father  '  we  implicitly  acknowledge  that,  without  Him  we 
are  not  able  to  please  Him  ;  and  that  as  we  derive  from  Him 
a  supernatural  life,  so  we  rely  solely  on  Him  to  uphold  and 

1  Ps.  ciii.  14 ;    cxxxix.  2,  3  ;    Matt.  vi.  8. 

*  de  imitatione  ChrisH,  iv.  16.  Cp.  a  saying  of  Bp.  Creighton 
mentioned  in  his  Life,  vol.  ii.,  p.  389  :  '  Every  one  wishes  to  be 
understood  :  that  ought  to  be  the  bottom  of  our  prayers,  "  I  go  to 
talk  to  God  because  He  understands  me."  ' 

3  See  John  iii.   3,  R.V.  marg. 


'OUR  FATHER  WHICH  ART  IN   HEAVEN'     67 

renew  His  gift.  The  very  name  kindles  in  the  suppUant, 
not  only  affection  and  desire,  but  a  holy  confidence  that 
he  does  not  ask  in  vain.  '  Our  Father  '  will  give  good  things 
— even  the  best  and  greatest — to  them  that  ask  Him.'^ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  recollection  that  our  Father  is 
the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity  ^  will  restrain 
the  eagerness  with  which  we  ask  for  temporal  gifts  and 
blessings.  If  we  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
it  will  suffice  us  to  commit  the  care  of  our  bodily  life  trust- 
fully to  Him  as  to  a  faithful  Creator,  Who  is  able  and  willing 
to  uphold  us  in  being  so  long  as  may  be  needful  for  His  glory 
and  for  our  perfecting  in  grace  ;  and  Who  will  bestow  or 
withhold  His  gifts  as  may  best  promote  our  true  spiritual 
welfare.  Thus,  at  the  outset,  the  Prayer  strikes  the  note 
of  unworldhness  ;  it  teaches  us  '  for  nothing  earthly,  tem- 
poral, mortal,  to  long  nor  to  wait ' ;  ^  and  to  put  aside  all 
heathenish  anxiety  and  care,  resting  in  the  assurance  of 
His  goodness  and  power.'* 

(2)  Our  invocation  of  the  Father  is  also,  in  effect,  an  act 
of  faith  in  the  impartial  love  of  God,  Who,  as  St.  Peter  says, 
without  respect  of  persons  judgeth  according  to  every  man's 
work.^     He  deals  with  ourselves  and  with  all  mankind  as 


1  Matt.  vii.  II  ;  cp.  Rom.  viii.  32.  Aug.,  de  serm.  Dom.  in 
monte,  ii.  4,  15,  says  :  '  Quo  nomine  [Patris],  et  charitas  excitatur,  et 
supplex  affectus  et  quaedam  impetrandi  praesumptio  quae  petituri 
sumus.'  Cp.  Bern,  in  Cant.  xv.  2  :  '  Mihi  dictatur  oratio,  cujus 
principium,  nomine  dulci  paterno,  sequentium  obtinendarum 
petitionum  praebet  fiduciam.' 

2  Isa.  Ivii.   15. 

3  Bp.  Andrewes,  Private  devotions  (the  fourth  day). 

*  Tert.,  de  or  at.  ii.  :  '  Appellatio  ista  [Patris]  et  pietatis  et  potes- 
tatis  est.'  Our  Lord  speaks  of  earthly  care  as  '  heathenish  '  in 
Matt.  vi.  32.  Samuel  Johnson  in  his  Journal,  p.  123,  notes  a  private 
resolution  :  '  To  consider  the  act  of  prayer  as  a  reposal  of  myself 
upon  God,  and  a  resignation  of  all  into  His  holy  hand.' 

^  I  Pet.  i.  17. 


68       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

One  Who  has  absolute  knowledge  of  the  capacities  and 
opportunities  of  each,  and  of  all  that  is  needed  for  the  fulfil- 
ment by  each  of  His  peculiar  vocation.  To  Him,  earthly 
distinctions  are  nothing.  All  men  are  equal  in  their  capacity 
for  divine  sonship,  in  their  need  of  divine  grace  and  help. 
In  His  sight,  says  Augustine,  '  master  and  servant,  com- 
mander and  soldier,  rich  and  poor  are  brethren.'  This  title  of 
God,  writes  Chrysostom,  '  suggests  that  charity  which  is 
the  mother  of  all  good  things  and  excludes  the  inequality 
of  human  affairs  ;  it  shows  that  the  poor  man  has  equal 
worth  with  the  monarch,  since  in  those  things  that  are 
greatest  and  most  necessary  we  all  alike  are  partakers.  .  .  . 
For  on  all  He  has  bestowed  one  and  the  same  patent  of 
nobility,  in  that  He  deigns  to  be  called  the  Father  of  all 
alike.' ^  From  this  there  follows  the  mystery  of  vocation. 
He  Who  is  Father  of  all  has  a  purpose  for  each  of  His  children. 
Mankind  is  a  vast  Brotherhood,  in  which  the  peculiar  gift  of 
each  is  divinely  intended  for  the  service  of  all ;  and  it  is  f or- 
getfulness  of  this  that  is  chiefly  accountable  for  the  appalling 
social  evils  of  the  modern  world.  When  we  say.  Our  Father, 
we  bear  witness  against  that  self-seeking  temper  which,  in 
ourselves  or  others,  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  misery  and 
injustice,  all  the  confusions  and  anomalies,  which  seem  in 
the  eyes  of  multitudes  to  give  the  lie  to  any  public  profession 
of  Christianity.^  As  the  name  '  Father  '  is  a  rebuke  to  all 
selfishness  of  aim,  all  forgetfulness  of  the  claims  and  needs  of 
others,  so  it  implies  that  all  Christians  are  called  to  be  fellow- 
workers  with  God  ;  to  share  His  thoughts,  to  make  His 
purposes  for  human  society  their  own.     They  are  not  only 

1  Aug.,  serm.  in  Matt.  vi.  lix.  2  ;  and  Chrys.,  in  Matt.  horn,  xix., 
250  A,  B.  Cp.  The  Rule  of  Faith  and  Hope  [Lib.  Hist.  Theol.], 
pp.  25,  26. 

2  In  The  Creed  and  Real  Life,  by  the  Rev,  J.  G.  Adderley,  this 
point  is  urged  with  characteristic  directness  and  force.  See  pp. 
30-39,  on  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 


'OUR  FATHER,   WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN'     69 

servants,  but  friends  ;  not  only  children,  but  heirs.  They 
form  a  spiritual  community  of  which  He  is  Lord  ;  a  house- 
hold or  family  over  which  Jesus  Christ  rules  as  Son  of  God.^ 
They  are  pledged,  as  it  were,  by  the  privilege  of  their  super- 
natural birth,  to  make  the  Father's  interests  their  own  ; 
to  honour  Him,  not  merely  by  willing  obedience,  but  by 
intelligent  co-operation,  and  so  to  participate  in  His  work 
here  that  they  may  hereafter  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  them  from  the  foundatioit  of  the  world.^ 

(3)  Our  Father  is  commended  to  us  by  our  Master  as  the 
supreme  object  of  imitation.  The  title  sets  before  us  an  ideal 
to  be  pursued  ;  a  moral  standard  by  which  action  is  to  be 
tested.  What  God  is,  that  His  children  are  called  to  be. 
Ye  therefore  shall  he  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect.  ^ 
'  Let  us  consider,'  Augustine  says  simply,  '  Whose  sons  we 
have  begun  to  be,  and  let  us  live  as  beseems  those  who  have 
such  a  Father.'  *  Christ  points  to  the  Father  as  the  pattern 
of  active  and  impartial  goodness,  pouring  His  benefits 
ungrudgingly  upon  the  unthankful  and  the  evil  ;  of  creative 
love,  seeking  everywhere  and  always  the  good  of  men.  But 
equally  in  His  teaching  and  in  the  example  of  His  life  He 
emphasizes  the  heavenliness  of  our  calling,  the  transcendent 
glory  of  the  divine  standard.  The  word  '  heaven  '  suggests 
the  lesson  so  often  repeated  in  the  New  Testament :  that 
Christians  should  set  their  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above, 
not  on  the  things  that  are  upon  the  earth  ;  that  they  should 
look  for  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled  reserved 
in  heaven  for  them  ;  should  follow  the  example  of  Him  Who 
died  unto  sin,  and  passed  over  into  a  higher  state  of  being, 

^   See  John  xv.  15  ;    Heb.  iii.  6.  2  Matt.  xxv.  34. 

3  Matt.  V.  48. 

*  serm.  in  Matt.  vi.  Ivii.  2.  Cp.  Pet.  Chxysologus,  de  orat.  Dom., 
serin,  ii :  '  Qui  se  filium  Dei  credit,  actu,  vita,  moribus,  honestate, 
tanto  generi  respondeat.' 


70        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

separated  for  ever  from  contact  with  the  evil  world.  ^  Just 
as  He  always  refused  to  employ  the  weapons  of  the  world 
and  deliberately  chose  the  path  of  failure,  poverty  and 
reproach  ;  as  He  conquered  by  meekness  and  triumphed 
through  self-humiliation  ;  as  He  was  ever  guided  by  a 
heavenly  law — not  My  will  but  Thine  be  done — so  the  children 
of  God  are  summoned  to  a  like  detachment,  a  like  victory 
over  the  world.  We  were  created  for  something  nobler 
and  higher  than  the  world  can  give,  namely,  for  life  in  God 
and  unto  God.  The  Father  does  not  indeed  deny  us  in  due 
measure  the  good  gifts  of  earth  ;  but  His  characteristic 
gift  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  blesses  us  with  every  spiritual 
blessing  in  the  heavenly  places  in  Christ.'^  This  we  are  to 
seek,  because  only  through  the  bestowal  of  this  promised 
blessing  can  we  attain  to  the  likeness  of  His  holiness. 

Thus  the  title  '  Father,  Which  art  in  heaven,'  suggests  the 
true  aims  that  should  guide  the  child  of  God,  to  whom  the 
universe  is  a  spiritual  order,  controlled  and  impelled  by 
spiritual  forces.  Heaven  is  the  sphere  in  which  the  might 
and  glory  of  the  living  God  are  manifested  ;  and  the  secret 
of  influence  over  the  world  and  victory  over  its  evil  is  the 
heavenly  mind  :  self-separation  from  its  aims  and  methods, 
indifference  to  its  rewards.  Describing  the  character  of  the 
earliest  believers,  a  Greek  Apologist  says  :  '  They  sojourn 
upon  earth,  but  their  true  commonwealth  is  in  heaven. 
They  obey  the  established  laws  of  the  state  and  in  their  own 
lives  transcend  the  laws.  They  love  all  mankind  and  are 
persecuted  of  all.  They  are  despised  and  condemned ; 
they  are  put  to  death  and  yet  they  live.  They  are  poor, 
and  make  many  rich  ;   they  are  in  need  of  all  things,  and 

1  Cyp.,  de  oral.  Dom.  xi.  :  '  Conversemur  quasi  Dei  templa,  ut 
Deum  in  nobis  constat  habitare  .  .  .  Qui  caelestes  et  spiritales  esse 
caepimus  non  nisi  spiritalia  et  caelestia  cogitemus  et  agamus,'  etc. 

*  Col.  iii.  2  ;    I  Pet.  i.  4  ;   Rom.  vi.  10  ;    Heb.  vii.  26  ;    Eph.  i.  3. 


'  OUR  FATHER,   WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN  '      71 

yet  abound  in  all  things.  In  a  word,  what  the  soul  is  in 
the  body,  that  the  Christians  are  in  the  world.  They  dwell 
in  the  world,  but  are  not  of  the  world.'  ^  Such  was  the 
'  unworldliness  '  of  the  first  Christians.  They  passed,  as 
their  Lord  had  passed,  through  a  world  of  sin,  untainted 
by  its  spirit,  undefiled  by  its  evil,  unmoved  by  its  allure- 
ments. In  calling  upon  a  heavenly  Father,  they  confessed 
that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth  /^  that  earth 
was  not  the  inheritance  of  God's  children  ;  that  the  true 
home  and  refuge  of  their  spirits  was  He  in  Whose  presence 
there  is  freedom  from  sin,  fullness  of  joy,  perfection  of  life.^ 
(4)  Another  thought  is  suggested  by  the  mystery  of  the 
divine  Fatherhood.  We  call  on  the  Father,  Who  without 
respect  of  persons  judgeth  according  to  each  man's  work.  In 
other  words,  we  ascribe  to  Him  the  work  of  moral  governance. 
We  bow  before  Him  as  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,'^  exer- 
cising authority,  revealing,  in  ways  of  His  own  appointment, 
the  idea  of  right,  the  everlasting  law  of  duty.  To  the  revela- 
tion of  God's  parental  relationship  to  man,  moreover,  corre- 
sponds that  of  moral  retribution.  We  fear  Him  because  to 
Him  vengeance  belongeth  ;  because  He  punishes  transgression, 
and  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty.^  We  think  of  Him  as 
chastening  His  sons  for  their  profit,  that  they  may  be 
partakers  of  His  holiness.  We  approach  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  One  Who  deals  with  men  as  needing  discipline. 
This  discipline  is  of  various  kinds.  St  Augustine  dwells 
particularly  on  two  consequences  of  wrong-doing,  '  ignor- 
ance '  and  '  difficulty  ' — ignorance,  that  is,  a  certain  blind- 

1  Epist.  ad  Diognetum,  v.  9-vi.  i.     Cp.  2  Cor.  vi.  9,  10. 

2  Heb.  xi.  13. 

3  de  sacramentis,  v.  4  :  '  Caelum  est  ibi  ubi  cessavit  culpa  ;  caelum 
est  ibi  ubi  flagitia  feriantur  ;  caelum  est  ibi  ubi  nullum  mortis  est 
vulnus.' 

*  I  Tim.  vi.  15.  5  Exod.  xxxiv.  7. 


72        THE  RULE  OF  WORK   AND  WORSHIP 

ness  of  spirit  which  cannot  discern  the  spiritual  significance 
of  Hfe,  nor  the  meaning  of  God's  deahngs  with  the  soul ; 
in  other  words,  that  incapacity  to  know  God  which  results 
from  lack  of  sympathy  with  His  purpose  and  character ;  ^ 
and  difficulty,  springing  from  the  weakness  of  a  disordered 
will,  from  despondency  of  mind,  from  the  importunity  of 
evil  desires  only  partially  subdued.  Our  appeal  to  the 
Father  is  our  acknowledgment  that  these  spiritual  trials 
and  disabilities  are  the  mark  of  divine  discipline  ;  a  means 
of  healing  and  deliverance  to  be  accepted  with  penitential 
submission.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
divine  Fatherhood  involves  a  call  to  repentance.  The  lost 
son  of  our  Saviour's  parable  is  described  as  coming  '  to 
himself.'  There  stirs  in  him  the  aching  sense  of  misery, 
want  and  loss,  and  self-pity  melts  into  a  wistful  recollection 
of  what  he  has  once  enjoyed  and  recklessly  spurned — the 
priceless  treasure  of  a  father's  love.  The  thought  of  his 
home  rekindles  faith,  affection,  hope.  He  resolves  to  trust 
to  '  the  fatherliness  of  the  Father,'  to  the  unfailing  pity 
and  goodwill  which  is  ever  on  the  watch  to  '  welcome, 
pardon,  cleanse,  relieve,'  the  penitent.  True  penitence  is  the 
turning  of  the  human  heart  homewards,  the  self -surrender 
of  the  sinner  to  the  divine  love  :  the  love  which,  while  it 
judges,  understands  ;  while  it  condemns,  pities  ;  while  it 
chastens,  heals.  '  See,'  is  Chrysostom's  comment,  '  how 
at  once  the  word  "  Father  "  raises  up  the  hearer,  and  reminds 
him  at  the  outset  of  the  lovingkindness  of  God.  For  he 
that  calls  God  "  Father,"  in  this  single  title  acknowledges 
the  reality  of  forgiveness,  the  remission  of  penalty,  right- 
eousness, sanctification,  redemption,  adoption,  inheritance, 
brotherhood  with  the  Only-begotten,  and  supply  of  the 

1  iyvucria  Qeov,  as  St.  Paul  calls  it  (i  Cor.  xv.  34)  :  '  A  settled 
incapacity  for  knowing  and  judging  rightly  in  regard  to  God  and 
His  will '.     Cp.  2  Pet.  ii.  15. 


'OUR  FATHER,   WHICH  ART  IN   HEAVEN'     73 

Spirit.'  1  Repentance  is  not  merely  a  '  negative  move- 
ment '  of  the  soul  turning  away  from  sin  ;  it  is  the  turning 
of  the  whole  personality  Godward  ;  ^  it  means  the  recog- 
nition and  acceptance  by  man's  reason,  heart,  and  will  of 
God's  paternal  claim  and  of  His  Fatherly  goodwill.  This 
seems  to  be  the  leading  thought  in  one  of  Bishop  Wilson's 
paraphrases  of  the  clause : '  My  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven  and  in  Thy  sight,  and  am  not  worthy  to  be  called 
Thy  son.  Look  upon  us,  O  Father,  as  poor,  weak,  ignorant, 
froward  and  helpless  children  ;  and  pity  us  according  to 
Thy  goodness,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  the  Son  of  Thy  love.'  ^ 

III 

Such,  then,  are  some  of  the  thoughts,  the  hopes,  the  aims 
which  we  associate  with  the  name  '  Father.'  Taught  by 
the  example  of  the  Son  of  His  love,  we  approach  God  as 
children,  who,  realizing  their  own  ignorance  and  helplessness, 
cast  their  burden  of  weakness  and  guilt  upon  Him,  and  look 
to  Him  for  the  fulfilment  of  every  sincere  prayer,  every 
heavenward  aspiration.  The  Saviour  Himself  has  taught 
us  the  meaning  of  filial  trust,  and  the  greatness  of  the  re- 
sponse which  it  elicits  ;  He  has  taught  us  '  to  lean  upon 
God  with  that  submissive  confidence  which  sets  free  the 
omnipotence  of  His  love.'  *  But  He  has  also  shed  forth 
upon  the  Church  of  the  redeemed,  the  Spirit  by  Whose  in- 
spiration they  enter  into  the  Father's  mind  and  embrace, 
with  intelligent  zeal  and  with  a  ready  will,  His  world-wide 
purposes.  What  the  Father  has  manifested  Himself  to  be 
to  His  true  worshippers,^  that  He  potentially  is  to  every 

1  In  Matt.  horn,  xix,  249  D. 

^  Cp.   Acts  XX.   21  :     rriv  eh  rbv  Qebv  fierdvoiav. 

3  Sacra  Privata  :  Tuesday  meditations  (ser.  i). 

*  A.  G.  Hogg,  Christ's  Message  of  the  Kingdom,  p.  157. 

^  John  iv.  23. 


74       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

child  of  man.     Therefore  we  invoke  the  Almighty  and 

All-merciful  in  behalf  of  all  that  He  has  made,  pleading  for 

all  men  alike,  of  whatever  grade  or  estate,  and  commending 

them  to  the  everlasting  mercy  of  their  Creator  with  trustful 

faith.     In  '  the  prayer  of  the  faithful '  we  ask  that  they  also 

may  have  fellowship  with  us,  and  may  come  to  know  the 

breadth  and  length  and  height  and  depth  ^  of  that  love  which 

as  yet  they  know  not,  or  to  which  they  make  only  a  faint 

and  fitful  response.     As  the  Prayer  excludes  all  selfishness 

of  desire,  all  narrowness  of  sympathy,  so  it  corrects  the 

spirit  of  rivalry  or  ill-will.     It  is  an  intercession  for  '  our 

enemies,  persecutors  and  slanderers,' — a  petition  not  only 

that  they  may  be  forgiven,  but  also  that  they  may  learn 

to  behave  towards  us  as  children,  with  them,  of  a  common 

Father  ;    Bishop  Ken  beautifully  gathers  up  the  purport 

of  the  divine  title  with  which  the  Lord's  Prayer  opens  : 

'  Glory  be  to  Thee,  0  Lord,  Who  in  teaching  me  to  call  God 

"  Our  Father,"  hast  taught  me  not  to  confine  my  charity  to 

myself,  but  to  pray  also  with  the  affections  of  a  brother, 

and  to  enlarge  it  to  all  mankind,  who  are  children  by  creation, 

to  all  Christians,  who  are  children  by  adoption,  of  the  same 

heavenly  Father.     O  give  me  that  brotherly  kindness  to 

them  all  that  I  may  beg  the  same  blessings  for  them  as  for 

myself,  and  earnestly  pray  that  they  may  all  share  with  me 

in  Thy  Fatherly  love.'  ^ 

Thus  at  the  very  outset  we  learn  that  the  '  Prayer  of  the 

faithful"'  is  also  the  '  Prayer  of  brotherhood  ' ;  and  that 

greater  even  than  faith,  greater  than  hope,  is  love.     It  is  by 

love  that  we   prove   our   affinity  to  Him  Whom  we  call 

'  Father ' ;  by  love  that  we  show  what  manner  of  spirit  we  are 

of ;  by  love  that  we  are  called  to  he  servants  one  to  another, 

and  so  to  glorify  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven.^ 

1  Eph.  iii.  i8.  *  jAg  Practice  of  Divine  Love,  part  iv. 

3  Luke  ix.  55  A.V.  (R.V.  marg.)  ;   Gai.  v.  13  ;   Matt.  v.  16. 


'OUR  FATHER,   WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN*    75 

ADDITIONAL  NOTE 
The  Fatherhood  of  God 

'  This  term  [Father]  expresses  not  only  the  Person,  the  Being 
to  Whom  it  is  to  be  paid.  It  expresses  a  pecuHar  character. 
It  ascribes  peculiar  attributes  to  God.  It  ascribes  to  Him  the 
parental  relation  and  the  disposition  of  a  parent.  .  .  .  That 
God  has  not  always  been  worshipped  as  a  Father,  even  among 
Christians,  you  well  know.  Men  have  always  inchned  to  think 
that  they  honour  God  by  placing  Him  on  a  distant  throne, 
much  more  than  by  investing  Him  with  the  mild  lustre  of  pater- 
nal goodness.  ,  .  .  Men  have  too  often  been  degraded,  broken 
in  spirit,  stripped  of  manly  feeling,  rather  than  Hfted  up  to  true 
dignity,  by  their  religion.  .  .  .  Thanks  to  Jesus  Christ,  that 
He  came  to  bring  us  to  a  purifying,  ennobling,  rejoicing  adoration ! 
He  has  revealed  the  Father.  His  own  character  was  a  bright 
revelation  of  the  most  lovely  and  attractive  attributes  of  the 
Divinity,  so  that  He  was  able  to  say  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father.  By  His  manifestation  of  the  parental  character 
of  God,  He  created  religion  anew.  He  breathed  a  new  and 
heavenly  spirit  into  worship.  He  has  made  adoration  a  filial 
communion,  assimilating  us  to  our  Creator.  Ought  we  not,  then, 
to  rejoice  in  this  house  as  set  apart  to  the  worship  of  the  Father, 
to  the  God  and  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 

'  The  Father  !  In  this  one  word  what  consoling,  strengthening, 
ennobling  truth  is  wrapped  up  !  In  this  single  view  of  God 
how  much  is  there  to  bind  us  to  Him  with  strong,  indissoluble, 
ever-growing  love  and  to  make  worship  not  only  our  chief  duty, 
but  our  highest  privilege  and  joy  !  The  Father  !  can  it  be  that 
the  high  and  holy  One  Who  inhabiteth  eternity,  the  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth,  the  Majesty  of  the  universe,  bears  to  us  this  relation, 
reveals  Himself  under  this  name,  and  that  we,  so  weak  and  erring, 
may  approach  Him  with  the  hope  of  children  !  Who  cannot 
comprehend  the  dignity  and  blessedness  of  such  worship  ?  Who 
does  not  feel  that  the  man  to  whom  God's  parental  character  is 
a  deep-felt  reality,  has  in  this  conviction  a  fountain  of  strength, 
hope  and  purity,  springing  up  into  everlasting  life  ?  ' — ^W.  E. 
Channing,  Discourse  on  '  Christian  Worship  '  (1836). 


CHAPTER   V 
'  HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME '  (St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

*  Hoc  Nomen  est  quod  mundo  perdito  dat  salutem.' — Petrus  Chrysologus. 

''T^HE  Name  '  of  God  is  a  characteristic  Hebrew  expres- 
j|[  sion.  '  The  Name  '  {shem  or  hash-shem)  is  occa- 
sionally used  as  a  substitute  for  '  Jehovah,'  which  from 
motives  of  reverence  was  left  unpronounced.  ^  The  '  Name  ' 
virtually  means  the  objective  manifestation  of  the  divine 
nature  and  character  ;  God  Himself,  as  He  has  actually 
made  Himself  known  to  beings  capable  of  apprehending 
His  essence  and  attributes.  Our  Lord  teaches  us  to  pray 
that  this  name  may  be  '  hallowed  '  ;  in  other  words,  that 
God  Himself  may  be  known  and  reverenced,  loved  and 
worshipped,  in  perfect  accordance  with  that  which  He 
has  revealed  concerning  His  nature.  In  the  received  text 
of  the  Gospels,  there  is  no  limitation  of  the  clause ;  but  an 
interesting  variant  in  the  passage,  St.  Luke  xi.  2  (Codex 
Bezae)  runs  as  follows  :  '  Thy  Name  be  hallowed  in  '  or 
'  upon  us  '  ;  and  there  is  some  trace  of  this  reading  in  the 

1  See  Lev.  xxiv.  16  ;  and  cp.  Atts  v.  41  ;  3  John  7.  Dr.  C. 
Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers,  etc.,  p.  67,  says  :  '  The  non- 
pronunciation  of  JHVH  (according  to  Lev.  xxiv.  16,  LXX.)  which 
was  aheady  an  estabUshed  practice  when  the  Septuagint  version 
was  made,  may  be  regarded  as  the  germ  of  the  QabbaHstic  theo- 
sophy  in  which  God  was  removed  to  an  infinite  distance  from  the 
material  world,  and  the  interval  was  populated  with  a  succession 
of  intermediate  creations  or  emanations  from  the  Deity.' 

76 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  'j^ 

comments  of  Tertullian,  Cyprian  and  Cyril  of  Jerusalem.^ 
It  is  suggested  by  some  scholars  that  the  form  of  petition, 
*  Thy  Name  be  hallowed  upon  us,'  may  have  been  originally 
based  upon  two  different  phrases  which  occur  in  Hebrew 
prophecy  :  (i)  to  be  called,  by  the  Name,  and  (2)  to  sanctify 
the  name  of  Jehovah  ^ ;  and  that  the  clue  to  its  significance 
is  to  be  found  in  the  baptismal  formula,  by  which  the  Chris- 
tian neophyte  is  baptized  '  into  the  Name  of  the  Father, 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit.'  ^  The  Name  of  God  is  invoked 
upon  the  baptized  person  and,  so  to  speak,  rests  upon  him  ; 
thus  making  him  a  temple  of  the  Spirit  and  a  sanctuary 
of  the  divine  Presence.  He  '  bears  '  the  threefold  name 
before  his  fellow-men,'*  and  is  called  to  reflect,  in  the  conduct 
of  daily  life,  the  character  of  God  :  to  reveal  (we  may  say) 
the  Father  by  love,  the  Son  by  obedience,  the  Spirit  by 
faith.  Accordingly,  the  primary  meaning  of  this  clause 
is  that  which  is  suggested  by  several  ancient  commentators  : 
'  We  ask  and  implore  that  we,  who  have  been  hallowed 
in  baptism,  may  continue  stedfast  in  that  state  whereinto 
we  have  entered.  .  .  .  We  beg  that  the  sanctification 
and  the  quickening  imparted  by  God's  grace  may  be  main- 
tained by  His  protection.'  ^  Nor  of  course  do  we  limit 
the  petition  to  ourselves  :  '  We  ask  that  the  Name  may 
be  hallowed  also  in  those  others  for  whom  the  grace  of  God 
yet  waits  '  ® ;  we  pray  for  the  unconverted  and  the  heathen, 
that  they  also,  through  the  labours,  prayers  and  sacrifices 
of  the  Church  may  be  brought  to  know  the  only  true  God 
as  Creator  and  Saviour,  as  the  Source  of  all  truth  and 


1  Tert.,  de  orat.,  iii.  ;  Cyp.,  de  orat.  Dom.,  xii.  ;  Cyr.  Hieros.,  cat. 
myst.f  V.  12. 

*  Cp.  Isa.  Ixiii.  19,  with  xxix.  23,  and  Ezek.  xxxvi,  23. 

8  Matt,  xxviii,  19.  Cp.  Acts  viii.  16.  See  Bp.  Chase,  op.  cit., 
P-  36. 

^  Acts  ix.   15.  5  Cyp    xii.  ^  Tert.  iii. 


78        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

holiness,  as  the  Hope  of  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  of  them 
that  are  afar  off  upon  the  sea.  It  is  a  prayer  for  the  fulfilment 
of  the  true  Israelite's  ideal :  The  nations  shall  fear  the  name 
of  the  Lord  and  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  Thy  glory.  From 
the  rising  of  the  sun  unto  the  going  down  of  the  iame,  the  Lord's 
name  is  to  be  praised.'^ 

I 

The  Father,  Whom  all  men  everywhere  are  called  to 
worship,  is  One  Who  has  revealed  Himself  to  man  by  divers 
portions  a7id  in  divers  manners,^  in  response  to  the  growth 
of  man's  spiritual  capacity  ;  and  the  Bible  is  the  record 
of  this  progressive  self-disclosure.  At  different  stages  in 
the  history  of  faith,  the  Almighty  Creator  has  declared 
His  Name.  Indeed,  to  the  Old  Testament  writers,  human 
history,  especially  in  its  relation  to  Israel,  presents  itself 
as  the  continuous  self -manifestation  of  God,  so  that,  speaking 
broadly,  it  may  be  said  that  the  successive  declarations  of 
the  divine  Name  correspond  to  different  stages  or  turning- 
points  of  revelation.  The  conception  of  Deity  becomes 
more  definite  and  distinct  in  proportion  as  redemptive 
history  advances  towards  its  goal. 

Thus,  that  vague  sense  of  the  presence  and  operation  of 
the  supernatural  in  nature  which  is  characteristic  of  primi- 
tive man,  seems  to  be  expressed  in  the  prehistoric  title 
of  God  'El  ('  strong  one,'  or  '  pre-eminent  one  '),  or  in  the 
plural  form  'Elohim,  which  is  perhaps  intended  to  suggest 
the  notion  of  '  fulness  of  might.'  ^  The  names  'El  'Elyon 
and  'El  Shaddai,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  narratives 

1  Psa.  Ixv.  5  ;  cii.  15  ;  cxiii.  3  (R.V.). 

2  Heb.  i.   I. 

3  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  word  'Elohim  is  a  reUc  of  primitivg 
polytheism.  But  this  term  is  not  quite  apphcable  to  the  religio^^ 
of  the  ancient  Semites.  Probably  the  word  '  polydaemonism » 
more  accurately  describes  their  point  of  view. 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  79 

bearing  upon  the  patriarchal  period,*  seem  to  be  general 
titles  expressive  of  religious  awe  and  dread,  such  as  might 
naturally  suggest  themselves  in  a  prehistoric  stage  of  thought. 
They  are  in  fact  names  '  preceding  revelation,'  and  they 
apparently  emphasize  different  aspects  of  the  divine  nature, 
the  word  'Elyon  meaning  '  most  high  '  or  '  exalted,'  while 
Shaddai  dimly  suggests  the  notion  of  '  might,'  whether 
displayed  in  blessing  or  in  judgment. ^  More  significant, 
however,  are  such  designations  as  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob  ^  and  similar  expressions.  They  testify 
to  a  growing  faith  that  the  Almighty  Creator  is  One  Who 
deigns  to  enter  into  personal  relations  with  individuals  or 
tribes  in  order  to  fulfil  towards  them,  and  through  them, 
a  purpose  of  grace  and  mercy. 

We  first  meet  with  a  name  of  revelation  in  the  strict 
sense  in  connexion  with  the  deliverance  of  the  Hebrew 
tribes  from  the  bondage  of  Egypt.  He  Whom  Moses  pro- 
claimed to  them  as  their  deliverer  and  as  the  one  Deity  to 
Whom  they  owed  allegiance,  made  Himself  known  by 
the  name  Jehovah,  the  traditional  meaning  of  which  is 
'  He  Who  will  be  '  ;  that  is,  the  Eternal,  Who  manifests 
Himself  throughout  the  successive  ages  of  history  as  the 

^  See  Waller's  arts.  '  Jehovah,'  '  'El,'  etc.,  in  Murray's  Illustrated 
Bible  Dictionary . 

^  See  Davidson,  Theology  of  the  O.T.,  p.  45.  On  early  titles  of 
Deity  see  Driver,  The  Book  of  Genesis,  excursus  I,  and  Hastings' 
Diet,  of  the  Bible,  ii.  198.  At  a  later  stage  in  Redemptive  history 
the  idea  of  illimitable  might  finds  expression  in  a  title  character- 
istic for  the  most  part  of  the  prophets,  viz.  '  God  '  or  '  Lord  of  Hosts.' 
The  idea  suggested  in  this  expression  is  that  of  '  omnipotence.' 
The  word  '  hosts  '  includes  all  the  forces  of  nature,  the  armies 
whether  of  Israel  or  of  heathen  nations,  the  hosts  of  stars,  the  multi- 
tude of  heavenly  beings  who  surround  the  heavenly  throne  on  high. 
All  these  own  the  sway  of  Jehovah  and  fulfil,  blindly  or  intelligently. 
His  sovereign  purposes.  See  also  Driver  on  The  Book  of  Amos 
[Camb.  Bible],  additional  note  p.  231  on  Amos  iii.  13. 

3  Exod.  iii.  15. 


8o       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

I 
Creator,    Redeemer    and    Saviour   of    His    chosen   people. 

'  The  name  was  intended  to  express  not  what  God  is  in 

Himself,  but  rather  what  He  was  in  relation  to  Israel ;    a 

personal  being,  willing  to  enter  into  covenant  with  man 

and   to   reveal   Himself   progressively   as   occasion   might 

demand  ;    a  being  self-consistent  and  faithful  in  fulfilling 

His  threatenings  and  promises  ;  able,  moreover,  to  control 

the  course  of  history  in  fulfilment  of  His  purpose  of  grace. 

The  name  by   its  very  vagueness  implies  that   ' '  no  words 

can  sum  up  all  that  Jehovah  will  be  to  His  people."  '  ^ 

The  Name  of  God,  then,  has  been  to  His  people  in  all 
ages  an  object  of  love,  adoration,  awe,  worship  and  joy  ;  ^ 
and  that  because  the  name  denotes  the  character  in  which 
He  ever  manifests  Himself,  and  is  the  pledge  of  His  abiding 
presence  among  men  as  Saviour  and  Judge,  visiting  them 
in  mercy  or  in  displeasure,  and  revealing  His  will  in  blessing 
and  in  judgment.  The  prolonged  spiritual  discipline  to 
which  Israel  was  subjected  was  designed  to  lead  the  people, 
first,  to  hold  in  due  reverence  the  glorious  and  fearful  name  ' 
of  their  Redeemer ;  secondly,  to  glorify  that  name  among 
the  heathen  by  a  life  consistent  with  the  divine  holiness. 

There  is  one  passage  in  the  Old  Testament  which  must 
not  be  overlooked  in  this  connexion.  In  Exodus  xxxiv. 
the  Name  of  the  Lord  is  solemnly  proclaimed  in  response 
to  the  prayer  of  Moses  himself.  /  pray  Thee,  if  I  have 
found  grace  in  Thy  sight,  shew  me  now  Thy  ways  that  I  may 
know  Thee  .  .  .  shew  me,  I  pray  Thee,  Thy  glory. '^  What 
is  specially  noteworthy  about  the  declaration  of  the  divine 
Name  is  that  it  seems  to  be  occasioned  by  the  very  fact 


1  See  The  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  30,  referring  to  Prof.  W.  R.  Smith, 
The  Prophets  of  Israel,  lect.  ii,  note  10. 

2  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.  i.  2,  2  :  To  know  Him  '  is  life,  and  joy  to 
make  mention  of  His  name.' 

3  Deut.  xxviii.  58.  *  Exod.  xxxiii.  13,  18. 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY   NAME'  8i 

of  Israel's  unfaithfulness.  At  any  rate  it  stands  in  close 
connexion  with  the  account  of  the  people's  signal  act  of 
apostasy, — the  worship  of  the  golden  calf  (Exod.  xxxii.). 
The  unfolding  of  the  Name  is  a  disclosure  not  so  much  of 
power  as  of  goodness.^  Israel's  guilt  throws  into  high 
relief,  as  it  were,  the  moral  glory  and  transcendence  of  its 
Redeemer.  The  Lord,  we  read,  passed  by  before  him  and 
proclaimed,  The  Lord,  the  Lord,  a  God  full  of  compassion 
and  gracious,  slow  to  anger  and  plenteous  in  mercy  and  truth  ; 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgres- 
sion and  sin  ;  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty, 
visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  and  upon 
the  children's  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the  fourth 
generation.  ^ 

In  this  epoch-making  declaration,  two  aspects  of  the 
divine  character  seem  to  be  emphasized,  (i)  On  the  one 
hand,  the  Lord  is  righteous.  He  acts  according  to  the 
law  of  unerring  justice  and  unfailing  truth.  He  deals  with 
men  by  rule  and  measure,  requiting  them  according  to 
their  deeds,  and  fulfilling  His  purposes  in  pursuance  of  His 
threaten ings  and  promises.  Ever  consistent  with  His 
revealed  character,  '  most  sure  in  all  His  ways,'  Jehovah 
is  One  on  Whom  men  may  lean  with  confidence  and  security  : 

The  Rock,  His  work  is  perfect  : 
For  all  His  ways  are  judgment  : 
A  God  of  faithfulness  and  without  iniquity. 
Just  and  right  is  He.^ 

(2)  On  the  other  hand,  Jehovah  is  merciful  and  long- 
suffering  ;  full  of  compassion  for  the  penitent,  the  suffering, 
the  oppressed.  This  is  the  most  characteristic  and  enduring 
element  in  His  character — that  which  manifests  itself  in 
the  forgiveness  of  sin,  in  the  glory  and  beauty  of  nature, 

^  Exod.  xxxiii.  19. 

2  Exod.  xxxiv.  6,  7.  3  Deut.  xxxii.  4. 

G 


82        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

in  the  providential  care  which  embraces  even  the  lowHest 
of  created  things,  in  the  compassion  extended  even  to  that 
heathen  world  which  Israel  held  in  such  abhorrence.  The 
Lord  is  good  to  all  and  His  tender  mercies  are  over  all  His 
works,  sings  the  Psalmist.  The  mercy  of  the  Lord,  writes 
the  Sage,  is  upon  all  flesh  ;  He  reproveth  and  nurtureth  and 
teacheth  and  bringeth  again,  as  a  shepherd  His  flock.'^  Even 
His  '  jealousy  '  is  but  the  zeal  of  love,  kindled  whether  by 
the  apostasy  of  His  chosen  or  by  outrage  done  to  them. 
The  bond  which  unites  Him  to  His  creatures  is,  in  short, 
that  of  creative  compassion.  The  manifestation  of  His 
just  resentment  against  sin  is  only  a  transient  stage,  so  to 
speak,  in  His  dealings  with  the  sinner.  In  wrath  He  remem- 
bers mercy,  and  His  power  is  restrained  by  pity.  This 
may  be  said  to  be  the  central  message  of  the  Old  Testament.  2 
Hence  '  mercy  and  truth  '  are  constantly  co-ordinated  in 
the  theology  of  the  Psalmists  and  Prophets,  as  for  instance 
in  the  short  Psalm  cxvii.,  which  seems  to  embody  the 
essence  of  all  Messianic  psalms.  Thus,  the  habitual  com- 
bination of  '  truth  '  and  '  lovingkindness  '  in  the  Old 
Testament  conception  of  Jehovah  is  a  kind  of  prophecy 
of  His  coming  in  Whom  was  manifested  the  fulness  of  grace 
and  truth ;  in  Whom  God  was  revealed  as  Love  and  as 
Light. 2  In  Him  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  found  their 
supreme  fulfilment :  Thou  hast  magnified  Thy  word  above 
all  Thy  name  :  i.e.,  the  fulfilment  of  God's  promises  trans- 
cended all  that  He  had  wrought,  or  had  revealed  concerning 
Himself,  in  the  past.^ 


1  Ps.  cxlv.  9  ;    Ecclus.  xviii.  13  (see  the  whole  context). 

2  Three  of  the  prophets  in  particular  seem  to  be  hnked  together 
by  a  distinct  reference  to  the  passage  Exod.  xxxiv.  6  foil.,  viz. 
Jonah  (iv.  2),  Micah  (vii.  18  foil.),  Nahum  (i.  3).     Cp.  Joel  ii.  13. 

3  John  i.  14. 

*  Ps.  cxxxviii.  2,  with  Dr.  Kay's  note. 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  83 

For  at  the  last  God  spake  unto  us  in  His  Son  :  in  One 
Who  expressly  declared  that  He  had  come  in  His  Father's 
Name,^  and  Whose  mission  it  was  to  manifest  that  Name, 
that  men,  knowing  it,  might  be  won  to  penitence,  trust 
and  love.  In  word  and  in  life,  in  act  and  in  precept,  He 
ever  manifested  '  the  Name  '  ;  in  miracle.  He  showed  forth 
the  greatness  of  God's  power  ;  in  works  of  mercy,  the  wealth 
of  His  loving-kindness  ;  in  parables,  the  mysteries  of  His 
providence  ;  in  rebuking  sin,  the  intensity  of  His  hostility 
to  evil ;  in  receiving  sinners,  the  depths  of  His  compassion. 
And  since  the  Nature  of  the  Most  High  is  supremely  mani- 
fested in  the  incarnate  Son,  we  find  the  characteristic  Old 
Testament  phrase  the  Name  of  the  Lord  replaced  by  the 
Name  of  Jesus.  In  the  power  of  that  Name,  our  Lord's 
disciples  cast  out  demons  and  healed  the  sick  ;  in  it  they 
offered  their  prayers  ;  for  it  they  gladly  suffered  shame 
and  persecution.  To  believe  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  is  to 
yield  to  His  claim,  to  acknowledge  whole-heartedly  that 
in  Him  the  Eternal  Father  has  spoken, — has  made  Himself 
known  to  His  creatures.  '  We  praise  Thee,'  is  the  language 
of  an  ancient  Egyptian  liturgy,  '  Who  art  known  of  Thy 
Son  the  only-begotten ;  Who  through  Him  art  uttered 
and  interpreted  and  made  known  to  created  nature  ,  .  . 
and  art  brought  to  the  sight  and  interpreted  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  saints.'  ^  As  the  Creed  of  the  Church  is, 
in  one  aspect,  the  unfolding  of  the  Threefold  Name  revealed 
in  the  Gospel,  so  in  the  actual  history  of  the  Church,  in 
the  extension  of  the  divine  kingdom,  and  in  the  proclama- 

1  John  V.  43.  Cp.  Tert.,  de  orat.,  iii.  :  '  Nomen  Dei  Patris  nemini 
proditum  fuerat  :  etiam  qui  de  Ipso  interrogaverat  Moyses  aliud 
quidem  nomen  audierat.  Nobis  revelatum  est  in  Filio.  Jam 
enim  Filius  novum  Patris  nomen  est.' 

^  See  the  Eucharistic  anaphora  of  Sarapion,  Bishop  of  Thmuis, 
c.  350  [Eng.  transl.  by  Bp.  John  Wordsworth  in  Bishop  Sarapion's 
Prayer  Book  (S.P.C.K.),  p.  60]. 


84        THE  RULE   OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

tion  of  the  message  of  salvation  to  all  mankind,  that  Name 
is  continually  exalted,  glorified  and  hallowed. 

This  petition,  therefore,  is  in  the  first  instance  a  prayer 
that  there  may  be  a  progressive  manifestation  of  the  Three- 
fold Name  ;  that  the  true  faith  which  acknowledges  the 
glory  of  the  eternal  Trinity  and  worships  the  Unity  may 
be  spread  abroad  throughout  the  whole  world.  It  is  a 
prayer  also  for  Christian  people  that  they  may  walk  up  and 
down  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord,i  that  in  the  daily  conduct 
of  life  they  may  be  guided  by  the  power  of  the  Father, 
enlightened  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Son,  quickened  by  the 
grace  of  the  eternal  Spirit. 

II 

The  form  of  Prayer  which  the  Son  of  God  has  delivered 
to  us  is  necessarily  a  law  of  life — a  rule  of  work  as  well  as 
of  worship.  It  teaches  us  primarily  how  we  should  think 
of  God  and  how  approach  Him  ;  but  it  also  instructs  us 
how  to  please  Him,  how  to  direct  towards  Him  our  thoughts, 
words  and  actions.  In  all  ages  the  sole  function  of  the 
people  of  God  is  to  glorify  His  name,  by  shewing  forth 
the  excellencies  of  Him  Who  called  His  chosen  out  of  darkness 
into  His  marvellous  light. '^  As  it  was  with  Israel  of  old,  so 
is  it  now  with  the  Church  of  the  redeemed.  The  purpose 
of  God  was  to  make  Himself  known  to  the  nations  of  the 
world  as  the  God  of  Israel,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  His  glory 
was  to  be  manifested  in  the  redemption  and  sanctification 
of  His  elect  people.  His  '  Name  ' — such  was  the  teaching 
of  the  prophets — ^would  be  dishonoured  either  by  the  apos- 
tasy or  by  the  destruction — by  the  sin  or  by  the  overthrow— 
of   Israel.3    Thus   would   the  heathen   be  led   to   cherish 

1  Zech.  X.  12.  2  I  Pet.  ii.  9. 

3  Ezek.  XX.  9,  xxxvi.  21,  22.  Driver  on  Amos  ii.  7  [Camb.  Bible] 
points  out  that  the  phrase  '  To  profane  Jehovah's  name  '  is  character- 


'HALLOWED   BE  THY   NAME'  85 

unworthy  thoughts  of  the  Creator,  to  deny  His  attributes 
or  to  question  His  power. 

The  Christian  Church  inherits  the  privileges  and  the 
titles  of  God's  ancient  people,  as  St.  Peter  implies  in  his 
first  Epistle  (ii.  9).  Its  members  are  called  to  bear  witness 
to  the  actual  fulfilment  of  the  divine  promises,  and  to  adorn 
the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things,  by  appearing 
as  lights  in  the  world,  and  thus  commending  the  truths  of 
revelation  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  mankind.^  Ac- 
cordingly, the  petition  Hallowed  he  Thy  Name  is  a  prayer 
that  we  may  so  glorify  God  by  our  faith  and  worship,  our 
character  and  activities,  that  all  whom  we  can  reach  may 
be  led  to  surrender  themselves  to  His  call,  and  devote  them- 
selves to  His  service  ;  that  the  heathen  also — those  who 
know  not  God — may  be  brought  io  fear  the  name  of  Jehovah.'^ 

We  '  hallow  the  name,'  then — 

(i)  First  by  the  confession  of  a  true  faith :  by  adoring 
Almighty  God  as  He  has  revealed  Himself  ;  by  reverently 
accepting  all  that  He  has  taught  us,  and  is  continually 
teaching,  in  regard  to  His  ways  and  His  attributes.  We 
glorify  Him  by  a  faithful  use  of  our  intellectual  and  moral 
faculties  in  the  search  after  truth  ;  by  openness,  candour 
and  receptivity  of  mind  ;  by  paying  due  attention  to  the 
indications  of  His  purpose  and  of  His  guidance.  We  honour 
Him  by  recognizing  that  His  self-revelation  is  progressive 
and  continuous  ;  that  His  voice  is  making  itself  heard  to- 
day as  in  times  past ;  that  He  is  ever  revealing  to  mankind 

istic  of  Ezekiel  and  also  of  the  '  Law  of  Holiness '  (Lev.  xvii.-xxvi.). 
'  Jehovah  is  Israel's  owner,  and  as  such,  His  name  is  "  called  over 
it."  Hence  the  name  is  said  to  be  "profaned  "  when  something 
is  done  bringing  it  into  discredit,  or,  in  virtue  of  His  connexion 
with  Israel,  derogatory  to  Him  ;  for  instance,  by  the  worship  of 
Molech  (Lev.  xviii.  21,  xx.  3),  perjury  (xix.  12),  the  humiUation  of 
Israel  in  exile  (Isa.  xlviii.  11;  Ezek.  xx.  9,  14).' 
1  Tit.  ii.  10  ;    Phil.  ii.  15.  2  pg    ^ii.  15. 


86       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

His  judgments  and  His  methods  of  action.  The  faith 
which  responds  to  His  self-disclosure,  which  '  hallows  '  His 
Name,  is  above  all  things  expectant,  believes  that  He  is  not 
less  truly  about  us  and  before  us  than  behind  us,  '  speaking 
to  us  words  which  have  not  been  heard  before,  guiding  us 
to  paths  on  which  earlier  generations  have  not  been  able 
to  enter.'  ^  In  conscience,  in  Scripture,  in  the  events  of 
history,  in  the  discoveries  of  science  and  in  the  teachings 
of  experience,  the  Name  of  God  is  continually  proclaimed. 
His  character  unfolded.  His  will  made  known.  In  praying 
to  Him,  we  hold  communion  with  a  living  Mind.  We  seek 
the  truth  from  Him  Who  is  Holy  and  True,  grace  and  spiritual 
power  from  the  Holy  and  Strong,  fulness  of  life  from  the  Holy 
and  Immortal.^  The  Lord's  Prayer  is  the  utterance  of  a 
faith  which  by  its  trustfulness  and  courage,  by  its  simplicity 
and  expectancy,  glorifies  God — hallows  His  Name. 

Faith  is  courageous  because  it  is  also  stedfast.  It  looks 
out  unalarmed  from  the  stronghold  of  a  creed  once  delivered, 
a  creed  the  truth  of  which  is  attested  by  age-long  experience.  ^ 
The  Name  of  God  has  been  once  for  all  unfolded  in  the  word 
of  Christ  as  threefold.  He  bore  witness  to  the  Father, 
prayed  to  the  Father,  was  well-pleasing  to  the  Father ; 
He  spoke  also  of  the  Spirit  as  of  One  Whom  He  would  send, 
Who  should  come  in  His  name,  and  should  testify  of  Him. 
In  revealing  His  relationship  to  the  Father  and  to  the 
Spirit  He  made  Himself  known  to  us  as  equally  with  them 
the  object  of  trust  and  worship.  Thus,  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  based  on  the  teachings  of  the  Saviour  and  of  the 
Spirit,  is  faith  in  a  Trinity  ;  and  this  revelation  alone 
adequately  responds  to  the  needs  of  human  nature,  alone 

1  Westcott,  The  Historic  Faith,  p.  41. 

*  See  Rev.  vi.  10  ;   and  cp.  the  Trisagion  of  the  Greek  liturgies 

dytos   6  0e6s,  dyios  icrxvpos,   dycos  dddvcLTOs,  i\ir)(xov  ij/xas. 

3  Prov.  xviii.  10  :    '  The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower.' 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  87 

completely  embodies  the  spiritual  experience  of  Christendom. 
The  threefold  name  is  hallowed  by  us  in  proportion  as  we 
continue  steadfast  in  this  faith,  and  find  in  it  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  world  and  of  life. 

(2)  We  hallow  the  name  of  God  in  worship — that  is,  by 
moving  among  the  things  of  time,  and  the  interests  and 
duties  of  life,  in  a  spirit  of  expectancy  and  wonder,  reverence 
and  adoration.  An  ancient  hymn  which  tradition  ascribes 
to  St.  Patrick  contains  these  lines  ^  : 

'  By  this  invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity  I  bind  to  myself  to-day  : 

The  light  of  the  sun. 

The  whiteness  of  the  snow. 

The  force  of  fixe, 

The  swiftness  of  the  wind. 

The  depth  of  the  sea. 

The  power  of  God  to  guide  me 

The  wisdom  of  God  to  teach  me. 

«  iC  *  *  * 

The  way  of  God  to  go  before  me. 
The  host  of  God  to  defend  me.' 

All  things  speak  of  God  to  the  soul  that  continually  seeks 
Him  ;  all  paths  lead  to  Him  ;  and  worship  means  the 
realization  of  His  presence  in  ourselves,  in  nature,  in  the 
every-day  incidents  of  life.  It  means  '  awareness  of  God  ' 
in  all  things  ;  the  acknowledgment  of  Him  in  all  our  ways} 
Worship  in  this  wide  sense  will  have  two  special  notes  : 
the  spirit  of  thanksgiving  and  the  temper  of  obedience. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  Name  of  God,  that  is,  the  manifesta- 
tion of  His  character,  whether  in  created  objects  or  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  evokes  benediction.     The  Name  is  to  the 

1  I  owe  this  reference  to  Fr.  Congreve,  who  quotes  the  passage  in 
The  Interior  Life,  p.  32. 

^  Prov.  iii.  6.  Many  of  the  Psalms  illustrate  this  aspect  of  wor- 
ship, e.g.  Ps.,  xxix.,  which,  in  connexion  with  the  marvels  of  nature, 
speaks  of  the  '  worship  '  of  Jehovah  and  '  the  glory  due  unto  His 
name.'     See  also  Pss.  civ.,  cxlviii. 


88        THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

saints  an  object  of  praise.  The  righteous  shall  give  thanks 
to  Thy  Ndinc.^  If  Scripture  sometimes  speaks  as  if  religion 
consisted  chiefly  in  the  Hfe  of  prayer,  there  are  many  passages 
in  both  Testaments  which  might  almost  seem  to  identify 
it  with  the  habit  of  thanksgiving.  Give  thanks,  says  St. 
Paul  :  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  concerning 
you^  The  Christian  believer's  life  is  built  on  truth — the 
truth  concerning  God  ;  and  the  possession  of  truth  bears 
fruit  in  joy  and  praise.  As  we  advance  in  spiritual  experi- 
ence we  find  that  life  is  constantly  opening  wider  views  of 
the  divine  providence,  and,  therefore,  fresh  occasions  of 
thanksgiving.     As  we  look  back  upon  the  past — 

'  the  thought  of  what  hath  been,  doth  breed 
Perpetual  benediction.' 

We  realize  the  undeserved  blessings  that  have  enriched 
our  character  or  disciplined  it  for  the  work  of  life.  More- 
over, there  is  the  sense  of  present  mercies,  of  evils  averted 
or  overruled  for  good,  of  gifts  unasked  and  unhoped  for, 
which  have  ministered  to  our  usefulness  or  happiness. 
Above  all,  the  thoughtful  heart  will  be  awake  to  the  constant 
tokens  of  God's  watchful  providence  ;  it  will  rest  in  the 
thought  of  His  present  care  and  love.  Thy  Name,  it  will 
cry,  is  so  nigh.  As  Augustine  beautifully  says,  God  bestows 
blessings  freely  and  takes  them  away  :  '  but  He  withdraws 
not  Himself  from  the  heart  that  blesses  Him.'  ^  Thanks- 
giving, then,  is  the  very  soul  of  worship.  Just  as  the  chief 
feature  of  the  Jewish  liturgy  is  the  Shemoneh  'Esreh,  '  the 
eighteen  benedictions  ' — a  formula  which  every  Israelite 
was  expected  to  repeat  thrice  each  day  * ;  so  the  central 

1  Ps.  cxl.   13;    cp.  cxxxviii.  2;  Ixix.  31. 

2  I  Thess.  V.  18.     Cp.  Eph.  v.  20. 

3  Enarr.   in   Ps.   xxxiii.    2   :     '  Seipsum   a   benedicente   se  non 
toUit.' 

*  See  the  benedictions  in  Schiirer,  A  History  of  the  Jewish  People 
in  the  Time  of  Christ,  §  27  [E.T.  div.  ii,  vol.  ii,  pp.  S5-87]. 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  89 

service  of  the  Church  is  the  Eucharist  :  that  which  com- 
memorates and  renews  from  age  to  age  the  sacred  moment 
when,  on  the  eve  of  His  Passion,  the  Son  of  man  gave  thanks 
to  the  Father  ;  that  which  is  the  highest  act  of  worship, 
because  it  is  the  adequate  expression  of  man's  noblest 
function — the  praise  of  God. 

The  other  chief  note  of  worship  is  that  of  obedience  : 
the  dedication  of  the  will  to  the  service  of  God.  It  is  in 
this  that  worship  culminates  : — in  inward  self-surrender 
to  Him  Who  has  made  known  His  Name  to  man,  and  Whose 
presence  is  vouchsafed  to  those  who  are  gathered  together 
in  His  Name.  The  crown  of  the  Eucharistic  service  is  the 
act  of  oblation  which  follows  the  reception  of  the  sacred 
Gift.  '  Here  we  offer  and  present  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  our- 
selves, our  souls  and  bodies,  to  be  a  reasonable,  holy  and 
lively  sacrifice  unto  Thee.'  Worship  necessarily  has  its 
outward  and  material  side,  but  it  is  essentially  a  spiritual 
act.  It  is  the  response  of  man's  will  to  the  self-revelation 
of  God  ;  the  yielding  up  of  the  personal  self  to  be,  to  do  and 
to  endure  all  that  He  wills,  all  that  is  capable  of  setting 
forth  His  glory,  reflecting  His  character,  or  making  known 
His  Name.  Hallowed  he  Thy  Name  is  a  petition  that  we 
may  honour  God  by  worshipping  Him  with  the  service 
He  deUghts  in ;  with  the  offering  of  a  free  heart  and  a  good 
will} 

(3)  Again,  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name  is  manifestly  a  prayer 
for  our  sanctification  :  for  grace  to  walk  worthily  of  our 
vocation  as  God's  children.  By  holiness  of  life  Christians 
glorify  the  Name  of  God  and  adorn  the  doctrine  which  they 

1  Bp.  Gore,  The  Body  of  Christ,  p.  284  :  '  The  culmination  of 
sacrifice  is  the  oblation  of  the  faithful,  made  more  deeply  than  be- 
fore members  of  the  body  by  their  communion  in  the  Lord's  body, 
and  thus  becoming  themselves  the  sacrifice  which,  in  Christ,  is 
ofEered  to  the  Father.'     See  above,  p.  95. 


90       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

believe.^  Let  every  one  that  nanieth  the  name  of  the  Lord 
depart  from  unrighteousness,  is  a  maxim  engraved,  as  it 
were,  upon  the  spiritual  fabric  of  the  Church.^  '  It  was  a 
common  answer  of  the  ancient  martyrs,  "  I  am  a  Christian, 
and  with  us  no  evil  is  done."  The  very  name  was  thought 
to  speak  something  of  emendation,  and  whosoever  put  it 
on  became  the  better  man.'  ^  The  word  of  Christ  thus 
corroborated  the  constant  message  of  Hebrew  prophecy 
that  the  righteous  Lord  loveth  righteousness ;  that  only 
the  uf  right  should  behold  His  face ;  that  belief  divorced 
from  character,  ceremonial  observance  without  purity  of 
life,  was  nothing  worth.  The  earliest  of  the  extra-canonical 
Christian  writers  puts  this  simply  and  plainly  :  '  Seeing, 
then,  that  we  are  the  special  portion  of  a  holy  God,  let  us 
practise  the  things  that  belong  to  holiness,  forsaking  evil 
speakings,  impure  and  unholy  embraces,  revellings,  tumults 
and  hateful  lusts,  abominable  adultery,  and  hateful  pride.' 
'  We  have  seen  that  all  the  righteous  were  adorned  with 
good  works,  yea,  the  Lord  Himself  also  being  so  adorned, 
rejoiced.  Seeing  then  that  we  have  this  pattern,  let  us 
conform  ourselves  with  all  diligence  to  do  His  will ;  let 
us  with  all  our  might  work  the  work  of  righteousness.'  * 
Accordingly,  we  may  follow  Cyprian  and  others  in  regard- 
ing this  petition  chiefly  as  a  prayer  for  perseverance.^    It 

1  See  I  Tim.  vi.  6  ;    2  Tim.  i.   12  ;    Tit.  ii.  10. 

'  Such  is  perhaps  the  meaning  of  2  Tim.  ii.  19,  where  '  the  firm 
foundation  of  God  '  probably  means  the  Church. 

3  Pearson,  Exposition  of  the  Creed,  art.  ii.  He  refers  in  particular 
to  the  story  of  Blandina  (Euseb.  v.  i)  and  to  Tert.  apol.  iii.,  who  com- 
plains that  the  very  name  ('  Christian  ')  which  implies  reformation 
or  exaltation  of  character  is  sufficient  to  secure  condemnation. 
'  Oditur  ergo  in  hominibus  innocuis  nomen  innocuum.' 

*  Clem.  Rom.,  ad  Cor.  xxx.  and  xxxiii.  Cp.  E.  A.  Edghill,  The 
Spirit  of  Power,  p.  52. 

6  Cyp.,  de  orat.  Dom.  xii.  :  '  Id  petimus  et  rogamus  ut  qui  in 
baptismo  sanctificati  sumus,  in  eo  quod  esse  coepimus  perseveremus.' 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  91 

follows  the  invocation  of  the  Father  with  perfect  appro- 
priateness ;  for  the  main  secret  of  perseverance  is  to  be 
found  in  loving  thoughts  of  God  as  One  Who  desires  the 
highest  good  of  His  children,  Who  lays  on  them  no  burden 
that  is  above  their  strength,  Who  gives  what  He  commands 
and  imparts  the  holiness  which  His  law  demands.  As  we 
have  seen,  the  title  '  Father  '  not  only  designates  a  Person 
but  connotes  a  character.  It  kindles  love  and  trust.  It 
is  a  pledge  that  He  Who  makes  us  His  children  by  adoption 
will  preserve  and  nourish  in  us  the  life  of  grace  that  He 
has  bestowed.  So  this  first  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
asks  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  fulfil  the  true  law  of  our 
nature  and  may  glorify  the  Father  by  bringing  forth  much 
frtiit.^ 

Further,  as  the  inconsistencies  of  Christians  are  the  chief 
stumbling-block  which  hinders  men  from  acknowledging 
God's  claim  and  hallowing  His  Name,  so  a  good  life  acts 
as  a  missionary  agency  of  incalculable  power.  A  modern 
illustration  of  this  truth  may  be  found  in  the  history  of 
British  India.  Bishop  Copleston  ^  points  to  the  solidity 
of  British  rule  in  India  as  a  conspicuous  proof  of  the  power 
of  righteousness.  '  Nowhere,'  he  says,  '  have  pure  and 
noble  lives  had  a  finer  field  or  one  of  greater  triumphs.  .  .  . 
It  is  true,  of  course,  of  India,  as  of  every  land,  that  bad 
Christians  are  among  the  greatest  obstacles  to  religion. 
It  is  true  in  India,  as  elsewhere,  that  lives  of  good  Christians 
have  been  and  are  its  noblest  advocates.'  So  it  has  been 
in  every  age.  The  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  amang  the 
Gentiles  because  of  you,  even  as  it  is  written.^  Such  is  St. 
Paul's  warning  to  the  Jew  who  gloried  in  God,  and  was 
confident  that  in  the  law  he  possessed  the  form  of  knowledge 

1  John  XV.  8. 

*  Bishop  of  Colombo  1875-1902  ;    of  Calcutta  1902-1912. 

3  Rom.  ii.  24  ;  cp.  Isa.  lii.  5  ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  20,  23. 


92        THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

and  of  the  truth.  On  the  other  hand  the  Uves  of  consistent 
Christians  are  a  Uving  Gospel,  bearing  witness  to  the  presence 
of  God  and  manifesting  the  power  of  faith  in  His  Name 
to  bring  strength  out  of  weakness,  and  to  transfigure  human 
character. 

(4)  Once  more,  the  name  of  God  is  hallowed  by  those 
who  in  every  kind  of  occupation,  and  in  every  form  of 
service  to  mankind,  recollect  that  they  live  and  act  in  the 
very  presence  of  God.  Whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  in  deed, 
is  St.  Paul's  precept,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus} 
The  aim  and  object  of  Israel's  election  was  that  in  all  the 
circumstances  and  surroundings  of  its  common  life,  the 
divine  holiness  might  find  due  expression.  Even  though 
the  tendency  was  strong  to  emphasize  and  elaborate  the 
merely  external  signs  of  national  consecration,  yet  the  call 
to  inward  holiness  was  enforced  by  the  constant  witness 
of  prophecy.  The  perfect  consecration  of  all  life,  however, 
is  the  fruit  of  the  divine  Incarnation.  The  Word  made 
flesh  has  hallowed  by  His  touch  all  common  things,  func- 
tions, duties  and  relationships  ;  and  the  distinctively  Chris- 
tian spirit  implies  a  reverent  and  meditative  outlook  upon 
Nature  and  upon  human  life  as  a  whole.  A  true  believer 
in  Christ  ever  lives  and  works  before  the  throne  of  God.  To 
him  '  Every  creature  is  a  divine  word  which  tells  of  God.'  ^ 
Nature  is  the  veil  of  a  spiritual  presence.  It  is  sacramental 
alike  in  its  various  processes  and  in  its  total  significance  ; 
it  is  the  sphere  in  which  the  living  God  makes  manifest  the 
thoughts  of  His  heart,  the  modes  of  His  operation,  the 
mysteries  of  His  truth.  As  the  ceremonial  law  of  the 
Jews  was  adapted  to  teach  them  the  sanctity  of  the  divinely 
appointed  order  of  the  world ;    so  the  most  characteristic 

1  Col.  iii.  17. 

^  St.  Bonaventura.  Cp.  de  imitatione  Christi,  ii.  4  :  '  Non  est 
creatura  tam  parva  et  vilis  quae  Dei  bonitatem  non  repraesentet.' 


'HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME'  93 

lesson  of  Hebrew  prophecy  was  the  sacredness  of  human 
history.  Behind  the  events  and  vicissitudes  of  national 
life,  the  prophets  of  Israel  discerned  the  controlling  hand 
and  the  moral  purpose  of  the  Almighty.  It  was  His  Name 
that  was  revealing  itself  in  the  downfall  of  Israel's  heathen 
foes,  in  the  extension  of  the  divine  kingdom,  in  the  sufferings 
of  the  faithful.  My  Name,  saith  the  Lord,  is  great  among 
the  nations.  My  Name  is  terrible  among  the  heathen}  The 
calamities  that  overtake  the  world  are  described  as  a  coming 
of  Jehovah's  Name— a  visitation  of  the  heathen  in  judgment 
by  the  self-revealing  God.^ 

Thus  the  petition  Hallowed  he  Thy  Name  is  a  prayer 
that  our  eyes  may  be  continually  open  to  discern  the  living 
presence  and  activity  of  God  in  the  world ;  that  we  may 
reverence  all  mental  and  spiritual  gifts  as  bearing  witness 
to  the  operation  of  the  '  Creator  Spirit  '  distributing  to  every 
man  severally  as  He  wills  ^  ;  that  in  all  the  beauty  and  order 
of  the  universe,  in  all  manifestations  of  the  hidden  force 
which  underlies  it,  in  all  triumphs  of  genius  and  in  all  vic- 
tories of  love  over  the  sin  and  misery  of  the  world,  we  may 
recognize  with  wonder  and  awe  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
the  divine  wisdom  and  might. 

(5)  Finally,  we  should  not  overlook  the  connexion  between 
this  clause  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  third  command- 
ment, which  forbids  the  sin  of  taking  the  Name  of  God  in 
vain  by  untruthfulness  or  insincerity  of  speech.  We  assuredly 
hallow  the  divine  Name  by  truthfulness  in  the  widest  sense  of 
the  word  :  by  abiding  or  walking  in  truth,'^  by  holding  in 
reverence  the  nature  that  He  has  made,  by  reflecting  in  the 

1  Mai.  i.  II,  14.  2  jga    xxx.  27;    cp.  Ps.  Ixxv.  2. 

3  I  Cor.  xii.  13. 

*  John  viii.  44  ;  2  John  4.  Walking  in  truth  '  describes  the 
general  character  of  the  life  as  conducted  "  in  truth,"  really  and  in 
very  deed  in  a  certain  fashion,  even  after  the  commandment  of 
God  '  (Westcott  on  2  John  4). 


94       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

purpose  of  our  life  and  the  utterance  of  our  lips  the  essen- 
tial simplicity  of  the  divine  nature  :  veritatem  facientes  in 
caritate.^  The  truth  in  its  totality — that  is,  all  that  God 
has  disclosed  concerning  Himself — is  intended  to  find 
expression  in  every  element  and  faculty  of  man's  nature : 
in  his  thought  and  in  his  utterance ;  in  his  dealings 
with  his  fellows,  in  his  relation  to  other  orders  of  created 
being,  in  his  attitude  towards  God,  towards  Him  that  is 
true.  '  Just  as  every  being  that  exists,'  says  Gregory  of 
Nyssa,  '  has  a  certain  distinctive  quality  which  makes 
known  its  nature,  so  that  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
divine  Nature  is  truth.' ^  Christians  are  summoned  to 
respond  to  the  unchangeable  constancy,  persistency  and 
dependableness  of  God  by  '  keeping '  the  word  which 
has  revealed  His  Name  to  man,^  or  rather  by  seeking 
protection  and  guardianship  in  that  Name.  He  Who 
says  I  manifested  Thy  Name  unto  the  men  whom  Thou 
gavest  Me  out  of  the  world,  uplifts  for  them  the  prayer,  Holy 
Father,  keep  them  in  Thy  Name. 

Ill 

One  last  thought  may  be  connected  with  this  petition. 

The  manifestation  in  Christ  of  the  divine  Name  is  a 
principle  of  unity.  Keep  them  in  Thy  Name,  is  the  prayer 
of  our  great  High  Priest,  that  they  may  be  one  even  as  We  are. 
The  petition  Hallowed  he  Thy  Name  is  thus  plainly  a  prayer 
for  the  unity  of  the  Church.  This  unity  cannot  be  brought 
about  by  human  effort ;  *  it  depends  upon  the  display  of 

*  Eph.  iv.  15  Vulg.     Cp.   I  John  i.  16  ;    John  iii.  21. 

2  Orat.  mag.  catech.,  xxxiv.  3  John  xvii.  6,   11. 

*  Pusey,  Eirenicon,  p.  45  :  '  Whatever  duties  may  follow  upon 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  it  is  plain  that  no  harmony  of  men's  wills 
can  constitute  a  supernatural  and  divine  unity.'  Cp.  H.  F.  Hamil- 
ton, The  People  of  God,  vol.  ii.,  chap,  x.,  '  Unity  '  ;  and  on  the  unity 
of  the  Church  see  more  in  The  Rule  of  Faith  and  Hope,  pp.  139  foil. 


'  HALLOWED   BE  THY   NAME  '  95 

God's  own  power,  keeping  His  people  in  His  Name.  Further, 
it  is  a  transcendental  unity,  surpassing  all  that  hath  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man  :  a  unity  not  merely  of  will  and  brotherly 
love,  but  in  some  sense  of  nature  ;  the  petition  is  that  they 
may  be  one  even  as  We  are.  For  this  consummation  the 
Church  longs  and  waits  ;  meanwhile,  we  pray  that  the 
Name  of  God,  the  divine  revelation  vouchsafed  in  Christ, 
may  be  a  true  bond  of  fellowship  uniting  all  believers  in 
allegiance  to  one  Lord ;  and  that  there  may  be  such  a 
manifestation  of  this  inward  unity  as  may  be  possible  here 
on  earth.  In  effect  Hallowed  he  Thy  Name  is  a  prayer  (i) 
that  each  member,  or  group  of  members,  in  the  Church 
may  be  loyal  to  the  true  idea  of  a  church  as  it  is  expounded 
by  St.  Paul  in  such  passages  as  i  Corinthians  xii.,  Romans 
xii.  and  xiv.  :  namely,  '  the  sympathetic  union  in  one  body 
of  very  diverse  members ' ;  ^  (ii)  that  the  organic  unity  of 
the  Church — the  unity  of  spiritual  life  derived  from  Christ 
Himself — may  manifest  itself  partly  in  acts  of  love  and 
interchange  of  service  between  the  members,  partly  in 
such  mutual  trust  and  co-operation  as  may  best  help  for- 
ward the  work  of  evangelization.  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name 
is  a  missionary  prayer  in  the  widest  sense,  because  it  is 
a  petition  for  that  oneness  of  the  Church  through  which 
alone  the  world  will  come  to  know  that  the  Father  sent 
His  Son  to  be  its  Saviour  and  King.^ 

1  Cp.  Wilson,  Lectures  on  Pastoral  Theology  (Macmillan,   1903), 
p.   152.  2  John  xvii.  23. 


CHAPTER   VI 
•THY  KINGDOM  COME'  (St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

'  Regnum  semper  habet  Deus  ;    et  nunquam  est  sine  regno,  cui  servit 
universa  creatura.' — Augustine. 

WHAT  our  Lord  meant  by  the  '  Kingdom,'  when  He 
taught  His  disciples  thus  to  pray,  seems  to  be 
clear  from  the  connexion  of  the  present  clause  with  that 
which  follows.^  Two  expressions  are,  in  fact,  specially 
characteristic  of  His  teaching  :  '  the  kingdom  of  God, ' 
'  the  will  of  God.'  It  is  evident  that  the  kingdom  in  its 
widest  sense  is  the  sphere  in  which  the  will  of  God  is  con- 
sciously embraced  and  loyally  fulfilled.  The  Lord  Himself, 
in  His  earthly  life,  was  the  living  representative  and  embodi- 
ment of  the  kingdom.  /  do  always,  He  said,  the  things  that 
are  pleasing  to  Him.^  In  Him  creaturely  life  perfectly 
responded  to  the  spiritual  purpose  of  its  Creator ;  in  Him 
there  was  actually  achieved  that  perfect  moral  union  of 
man  with  God  which  was  the  predestined  goal  and  aim  of 
all  His  dealings  with  our  race.  Nor  should  we  forget  that 
this  response  on  man's  part  to  the  divine  purpose  carried 
with  it  the  promise  of  a  regeneration  of  Nature  itself  ;  a 
manifestation  of  the  supremacy  of  spirit  in  the  material 
universe.  The  coming  of  the  kingdom  in  Christ  meant 
the  actual  arrival  of  a  new  epoch  in  human  history — an 

1  We  should  note  also  the  connexion  with  what  precedes.  See 
the  suggestive  passage  Zech.  xiv.  9,  '  The  Lord  shall  be  king  over 
all  the  earth  :  in  that  day  shall  the  Lord  be  one  and  His  name  one.' 

a  John  viii.  29, 

96 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  97 

epoch  which,  on  the  one  hand,  was  the  predestined  chmax 
and  consummation  of  Israel's  past  history  ;  on  the  other,  was 
to  witness  a  fresh  manifestation  of  Jehovah's  redemptive 
love  and  power.^  In  Jesus  Christ,  then,  the  kingdom 
of  God  has  actually  co7ne  with  power  ;  and  it  is  at  work 
in  the  world,  as  an  order  of  things  already  present  and 
operative,  and  only  awaiting  its  final  consummation.  For 
it  will  only  have  '  come  '  in  its  ideal  completeness  and  glory 
when,  as  an  old  writer  says,  '  in  heaven  and  in  earth  only 
God's  will  is  done  ;  when  in  all  men  God  lives,  God  acts, 
God  reigns,  God  is  wholly  present ;  according  to  the  Apostle's 
prayer  that  God  may  be  all  and  in  all.'  ^  It  will  have  finally 
come,  in  other  words,  when  all  creatures  are  what  Christ  as 
man  Himself  was,  perfectly  subject  to  the  rule  of  the  divine 
Spirit.  But  since  the  faith  of  man  has  only  partially  and 
fitfully  responded  to  the  call  of  Christ,  the  kingdom  still 
tarries,  or  is  at  best  only  potentially  present.  Nondum 
regnat  hoc  regnum,  as  Augustine  says. 

I 

The  '  kingdom  of  God  '  is  one  of  those  leading  ideas  of 
the  Jewish  religion  which  Jesus  Christ  accepted,  and  in 
accepting  transfigured.  It  w^as  the  theme  of  Psalmists  and 
Prophets  ;  it  was  the  hope  which  sustained  the  chosen 
people  under  the  pressure  of  countless  calamities  and  of 
painful  disillusionments.  Jehovah  is  King  : — this  it  was 
that  differentiated  Israel  from  the  other  nations  of  the 

^  Cp.  Hogg,  Christ's  Message  of  the  Kingdom,  p.  78. 

2  Petrus  Chrysologus,  de  orat.  Dom.  i.  :  '  Hoc  est  regnum  Dei, 
quando  in  caelo  et  in  terra  Dei  voluntas  est  sola,  quando  in  omnibus 
hominibus  Deus  vivit,  Deus  agit,  Deus  regnat,  Deus  est  totus ; 
juxta  iUud  Apostoli  ut  sit  Deus  omnia  et  in  omnibus  nobis  (i  Cor. 
XV.  28  ;  Eph.  iv.  6).'  For  the  Scriptural  teaching  on  the  Kingdom 
of  God  see  two  sermons  by  Dean  Church,  Advent  Sermons  (1885), 
nos.  2  and  3. 

H 


98       THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

world ;  that  explained  the  inner  meaning  of  the  prolonged 
and  severe  discipline  to  which  it  was  subjected.  In  our 
Lord's  own  day,  however,  though  the  word  '  kingdom  ' 
was  often  on  the  lips  of  loyal-hearted  Jews,  and  was  con- 
stantly mentioned  in  prayer,^  yet  the  essential  characteris- 
tics of  this  kingdom  were  generally  forgotten  or  overlooked. 
In  the  hands  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  the  idea  of  Jehovah's 
sovereignty — so  vividly  suggested  in  earlier  days  by  the 
Mosaic  institutions  and  at  a  later  period  by  the  theocratic 
kingship — was  at  once  expanded  and  spiritualized.  Pro- 
phecy was  led  by  its  study  of  the  actual  course  of  Israel's 
history,  to  insist  on  two  aspects  of  the  kingdom — its  univer- 
sality :  it  was  destined  to  embrace  mankind  as  a  whole, 
Israel's  ideal  vocation  being  that  of  Jehovah's  missionary 
to  the  heathen  world  ;  and  its  moral  and  spiritual  purpose  : 
it  was  to  be  a  kingdom  of  holiness  ;  Jehovah  could  be 
Israel's  God  only  in  so  far  as  it  recognized  and  fulfilled,  in 
its  social  and  moral  life,  the  law  of  righteousness.  To  this 
conception  of  the  kingdom  corresponded  a  deeper  view  of 
the  function  assigned  to  the  promised  Messiah.  In  process 
of  time,  as  the  Hebrew  monarchy  lapsed  into  decay  and 
dishonour,  the  vision  of  a  theocratic  king,  belonging  to  the 
house  of  David,  yielded  to  that  of  an  ideal  '  servant '  of 
Jehovah,  through  whom,  as  the  representative  of  the  whole 
nation,  Israel's  lofty  mission  was  destined  to  find  its  accom- 

1  There  is  a  saying  in  the  Talmud  :  '  That  prayer  in  which  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  kingdom  is  not  a  prayer.'  A  typical  instance 
of  prayer  is  the  '  Kaddisch  '  used  in  the  synagogue  :  '  May  His  great 
Name  be  magnified  and  sanctified  in  the  world  which  He  has  created 
according  to  His  will.  May  He  cause  His  sovereignty  to  reign  and 
His  redemption  to  shoot  forth,  and  may  He  bring  near  His  Messiah 
and  redeem  His  people  in  your  life  and  in  your  days,  and  in  the 
life  of  the  House  of  Israel  speedily  and  at  a  near  time.  And  say 
ye.  Amen '  (cited  by  Archdeacon  W.  C.  Allen,  Commentary 
on  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew  [International  Critical 
Comm.],  p.  60). 


'THY   KINGDOM   COME'  99 

plishment.  Both  in  His  life  and  in  His  teaching,  in  His 
meek  acceptance  of  a  subUme  and  awful  vocation,  in  His 
sacrificial  sufferings,  in  His  victory  over  the  grave,  He  would 
manifest  more  completely  than  the  '  king  '  of  earlier  prophecy 
the  universal  scope  and  the  spiritual  character  of  the  divine 
kingdom.  Coming  into  the  world  with  the  one  supreme 
aim  of  fulfilling  the  will  of  God,i  the  Messiah  would  establish 
the  reign  of  God  on  earth,  would  make  an  end  of  sins,  would 
make  reconciliation  for  iniquity  and  bring  in  everlasting 
righteousness.^ 

Such  were  the  anticipations  of  the  later  prophecy,  and 
it  is  with  these  aspects  of  the  Messianic  salvation  that  our 
Lord's  doctrine  of  the  kingdom  connects  itself.  To  Him, 
the  '  kingdom  '  signified  that  Rule  of  God  which  was  typi- 
cally manifested  in  His  own  sinless  Humanity ;  which  was 
in  Him  a  present  and  patent  fact.^  The  kingdom  had  been 
continually  foretold  ;  the  promise  stood  sure,  but  its  fulfil- 
ment was  conditional  on  the  measure  of  man's  response 
to  its  claim.  In  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  we  see  human  faith 
answering  unreservedly  to  the  will  and  purpose  of  God  ; 
and  in  Him,  consequently,  a  higher  order  than  the  natural 
finds  its  starting-point.  In  germ  and  potency,  at  least, 
the  kingdom  was  manifested  in  Christ  as  a  present  reality. 
Spiritual  blessings  hitherto  unrealized,  deliverance  from 
the  grasp  of  evil  moral  and  physical,  manifestations  of 
power  in  the  strictest  sense  supernatural,  might  be  antici- 
pated by  faith  as  a  matter  of  course.  Hence  we  may 
conclude  that  by  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  our  Lord 
signified  the  arrival  of  a  new  age  or  order  of  things,  in  which 
'  God  would  at  last  let  Himself  act  in  the  way  in  which 
faith  had  always  felt  it  only  natural  that  He  should  act, 
giving  His  omnipotence  free  play  in  the  service  of  His 

1  Ps.  xl.  7,  8.  2  Dan.  ix.  24. 

3  Luke  iv.  21  ;    cp.  Mark  i.   15. 


100      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

righteousness ;  an  age  in  which,  therefore,  supernatural 
forces  would  be  available  for  the  conquest  of  suffering,  evil 
and  sin.'  ^  In  its  universal  range  and  in  its  spiritual  char- 
acter, the  kingdom,  thus  conceived,  was  seen  to  correspond 
to  the  very  nature  of  God  :  God  Whom  Christ  revealed 
as  the  Creator,  Saviour,  Father  of  mankind  ;  as  Spirit, 
Light,  and  Love. 

II 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  dwell  at  length  upon  the 
perverted  conception  of  the  divine  kingdom  which  was 
widely  prevalent  among  our  Lord's  contemporaries.  We 
cannot  indeed  suppose  that  the  prophetic  idea  of  the  king- 
dom had  altogether  disappeared.  There  were  doubtless 
groups  of  faithful  Israelites  who  still  looked  for  a  spiritual 
kingdom  :  for  the  rule  of  Jehovah  Himself  over  a  regenerate 
people,  purged  from  guilt  and  sanctified  by  the  grace  of 
the  divine  Spirit.^  But  this  expectation  had  practically 
faded  from  the  mind  of  the  Jewish  nation  as  a  whole.  The 
popular  belief  was  that  the  Messiah  would  be  manifested 
in  power ;  that  He  would  overthrow  the  heathen  whose 
yoke  pressed  so  heavily  on  Israel ;  that  He  would  liberate 
His  people  from  Gentile  oppression  and  persecution,  would 
bring  back  to  Zion  its  captive  and  dispersed  children  ; 
would,  in  a  word,  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  in  the  sense 
of  giving  the  Jews  domination  over  their  foes.  The  idea 
of  a  moral  regeneration  of  Israel  through  forgiveness  of 
sins  and  sanctification  of  the  hearts  of  the  people  was  not 
altogether  absent.  Indeed,  it  is  clearly  attested  by  the 
language  of  the  Benedictus,^  which  seems  to  represent  the 

1  Hogg,  op.  cit.,  p.  38. 

2  The  Psalms  of  Solomon  {c.  63-37  B.C.)  seem  to  reflect  the  more 
spiritual  side  of  the  later  Messianic  expectation.  See  (e.g.)  the 
penitential  passages  in  Ps.  ii.   16  foil.,  viii.  27-41. 

3  Luke  i.  74,  75. 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  loi 

later  Messianic  belief  in  its  most  spiritual  form.  But  the 
idea  of  spiritual  renewal  naturally  fell  into  the  background, 
since  there  was  no  serious  and  urgent  sense  in  the  mass  of 
the  people  of  any  need  of  deliverance  from  sin.^  The  root 
of  this  defect  was  an  inadequate  conception  of  Jehovah's 
character,  and  of  His  moral  relationship  to  His  chosen 
people.  The  Messianic  hope  had,  in  fact,  become  secularized. 
The  Messiah  for  whom  the  Jews  waited  with  passionate 
ardour  was  a  victorious  warrior  ;  but  even  the  thought 
of  His  personal  glory  and  prowess  was  merged  in  glowing 
anticipations  of  national  reunion  and  exaltation.  The 
true  Messiah,  in  proclaiming  the  advent  of  the  kingdom, 
began  by  calling  men  to  repentance  and  belief  in  the  Gospel. ^ 
The  prevalent,  though  not  quite  universal,  belief  among  His 
hearers  was  that  the  revelation  of  the  Messiah  was  not  in 
any  way  dependent  on  Israel's  repentance,  but  was  uncon- 
ditionally pre-ordained  in  the  fixed  purpose  of  Jehovah. 

The  phrase  kingdom  of  heaven  or  kingdom  of  God  is  one 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  kind  of  watchword  character- 
istic of  the  later  Judaism.  It  unquestionably  meant  the 
'  kingship  '  or  '  rule  '  of  Jehovah,^  which  was  to  be  mani- 
fested and  embodied  in  the  Person  of  the  Messiah.  But 
the  nationalistic  ideals  of  popular  Jewish  theology  were 
destined  to  undergo  a  complete  transformation  in  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  The  blessings  of  the 
kingdom  were  by  them  proclaimed  to  be  not  material  but 
spiritual ;  not  the  liberation  of  the  Jewish  people  from  the 
yoke  of  the  heathen,  but  the  deliverance  of  individual  souls 
from  sin ;   not  the  vindication  of  Israel's  righteousness  but 


1  See  Edersheim,  The  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  vol. 
i.,  p.  167. 

2  Mark  i.  15. 

^  The  phrase  '  heaven  '  is  virtually  a  synonym  for  '  God  '  (Schiirer, 
div.  ii.,  vol.  ii.,  p.   171). 


102      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

the  forgiveness  of  its  transgressions  ;  not  the  triumph  of 
the  Law's  reHgion  but  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  and  the  writing 
of  the  Law  in  human  hearts  ;  in  a  word,  the  actual  reign 
of  God  in  the  sphere  of  thought,  motive  and  desire.  The 
Most  High  would  rule  as  King  in  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  His  rational  creatures.^ 

That  this  reign  of  God  may  be  manifested  among  men 
in  its  transforming  power,  in  its  supernatural  effects  and 
consequences,  in  its  triumph  over  evil,  in  its  healing  virtue, 
in  its  triumphant  vindication  of  the  ways  of  God  :  this  is 
the  consummation  on  which  the  Almighty  Creator  of  the 
world  has  set  His  heart. 


Ill 

Thy  kingdom  come.  We  may  proceed  to  consider  some 
of  the  devout  desires  which  find  utterance  in  this  com- 
prehensive petition. 

(i)  We  may  regard  this  prayer  as,  in  the  first  instance, 
a  petition  for  the  grace  of  a  true  repentance  :  for  the  removal 
of  all  the  sin,  the  unbelief,  the  lack  of  love  and  zeal,  which 
hinder  or  restrain  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.^  That 
kingdom  is,  before  all  things,  the  heritage  of  the  poor  in 
spirit.  It  appeals  to  a  deeply  rooted  sense  of  personal 
insufficiency  and  spiritual  poverty.  The  kingdom  which 
is  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost  ^  belongs 
to  those  who  have  realized  the  essential  emptiness  and 
weakness  of  their  own  unaided  nature.  It  implies  the 
unuttered  confession  that  the  way  of  man  is  not  in  himself  ; 

1  On  '  Thrones'  (Col.  i.  i6)  Bernard,  de  consider  a  fione,  v.  8,  says  : 
'  Throni  dicuntur  :  et  ex  eo  sedent  quod  sedet  in  eis  Deus  :  neque 
enim  sedere  in  eis,  qui  non  sederent,  posset.' 

2  See  the  sections  entitled  '  Why  does  it  tarry  ?  '  and  '  It  need 
not  tarry  '    in  Prof.  Hogg's  book,  already  referred  to,  pp.  24-52. 

3  Rom.  xiv.   17. 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  103 

that  other  lords  have  had  dominion  over  him.^  The  life  of 
Christian  holiness  is  rooted  in  the  temper  described  in  the 
Beatitudes  :  in  the  humility  which  realizes  its  need  of 
divine  grace  ;  the  sorrow  which  mourns  for  sin  and  feels 
the  burden  of  the  world's  pain  ;  the  meekness  which  patiently 
accepts  the  divinely-ordered  discipline  of  life ;  the  hunger 
and  thirst  which  seeks  in  God  the  satisfaction  of  all  heaven- 
ward aspirations.  Repentance,  in  a  word,  lies  at  the  very 
threshold  of  the  new  life,  and  to  the  penitent  the  kingdom 
comes  as  deliverance  from  the  burden,  the  guilt,  the  power, 
the  love  of  sin.^  Thus  Bishop  Wilson,  in  one  of  his  para- 
phrases of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  interprets  this  clause  as  fol- 
lows :  '  Vouchsafe  to  reign  in  my  heart,  and  let  not  Satan 
have  dominion  over  me.  Fit  us,  O  God,  for  the  coming  of 
Thy  kingdom.  May  I  submit  and  rejoice  to  be  governed 
by  Thee.  O  that  Thy  Holy  Spirit  may  direct  and  rule 
my  heart ;  subdue  in  me  all  pride  and  covetousness,  hatred, 
malice,  envy,  lust  and  all  uncleanness,  and  whatever  shall 
offend  Thee.'  ^ 

The  petition,  then,  reminds  us  of  the  hindrance  caused 
by  impenitence  to  the  fulfilment  of  God's  purposes.  The 
reconciliation  of  the  sinner  to  his  heavenly  Father  must 
precede  the  effectual  '  coming  '  of  the  kingdom.  It  was 
in  virtue  of  a  death  unto  sin,  an  act  of  atonement  offered 
for  man's  transgression,  that  the  Son  of  God  was  enabled 

^  Jer.  X.  23  ;  Isa.  xxvi.  13.  Aug.,  de  civ.  Dei,  xiv.  12,  observes 
that  obedience  is  the  essential  and  primal  virtue  for  a  rational 
creature  :  '  quandoquidem  ita  facta  est,  ut  ei  subditam  esse  sit 
utile  ;  pemiciosum  autem  suam,  non  Eius  a  quo  facta  est,  facere 
voluntatem.' 

2  '  Hinc  coUigimus  initium  regni  Dei  in  nobis  esse  veteris  hominis 
interitum  et  nostri  abnegationem '     (Calvin). 

3  So  Greg.  Nyss.,  de  orat.  iii.,  says  that  the  petition  virtually  sig- 
nifies, '  May  I  be  dehvered  from  corruption,  set  free  from  death, 
loosed  from  the  bonds  of  sin.'  '  Darkness,'  he  adds,  '  must  vanish 
before  light,  disease  before  health,  death  before  life.* 


104      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

to  '  open  the  kingdom  of  heaven '  to  penitence  and  faith. 
Just  as  this  petition,  with  divine  fitness,  precedes  that  for  the 
fulfilment  of  God's  will,  so  it  appropriately  follows  the  prayer 
for  the  hallowing  of  His  Name.  For  the  sinner  gives  glory 
to  that  Name  when  he  acknowledges  his  guilt,'-  and  when 
he  looks  heavenward  for  that  release  from  the  grasp  of  evil 
which  is  the  characteristic  blessing  of  the  kingdom. 

(2)  Next,  the  petition  is  a  prayer  for  personal  sanctifica- 
tion,  for  growth  in  holiness.  '  When  you  say  Thy  kingdom 
come,'  is  Augustine's  comment,  '  You  ask  for  the  grace  of 
a  good  life.'  ^  The  extension  of  the  kingdom  in  the  world 
begins  with  its  manifestation  in  the  character  of  individual 
men.  St.  Paul's  question  in  Romans  vi.  16,  Know  ye  not 
that  to  whom  ye  present  yourselves  as  servants  unto  obedience, 
his  servants  ye  are  whom  ye  obey  ?  implies  that  as  a  rational 
being  man  necessarily  stands  in  relation  to  law.  There  is 
a  throne  in  every  human  heart  which  some  power  must 
occupy  :  whether  sin  unto  death  or  obedience  unto  righteous- 
ness ;  and  the  law  of  man's  perfection  is  conformity  to 
the  divine  character  :  in  other  words,  the  rule  of  God 
established  at  the  centre  of  his  personality.  He  only 
fulfils  the  law  of  his  nature,  only  wins  the  freedom  which 
crowns  his  creaturely  perfection,  by  submission  to  the 
sway  of  the  divine  Spirit,  through  Whose  liberating  power 
he  becomes  '  under  the  sole  rule  of  God  most  free. '  ^  For 
the  consummation  of  law  is  liberty.  Men  reign  as  kings 
when  they  themselves  become  a  kingdom,  and  priests  unto 
the  God  and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ.*  The  kingdom,  then, 
consists  in  this  new  relation  of  individual  souls  to  God. 

^  Cp.  Josh.  vii.   19. 

2  '  Ut  bene  vivas  tibi  oras.'  Aug.,  serm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  de  orat. 
Dom.  Ivi. 

3  Aug.,  de  mor.  Eccl.  xxi.     Cp.  2  Cor.  iii.  17. 

*  Rev.  i.  6,  R.V.     Cp.  Bern.,  trad,  de  gratia  et  lib.  arbit.,  iii.  7  : 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  105 

Thy  kingdom  come.  To  Jewish  ears,  the  word  '  kingdom  ' 
conveyed  the  idea  of  conflict  and  dominion  over  foes. 
Israel's  typical  king  was,  like  David,  a  warrior  ;  and  in 
the  vision  of  the  Apocalypse  (vi.  2)  He  Who  wears  on 
His  head  the  kingly  crown  rides  forth  on  a  white  horse, 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  He  must  reign  till  He  hath  put 
all  His  enemies  under  His  feet.^  Accordingly  we  may  gather 
that  we  are  here  taught  to  pray  for  victory  over  the  spiritual 
enemies  that  war  against  the  soul.  He  who  prays  according 
to  the  mind  of  Christ  will  have  something  of  the  martial 
temper,  as  St.  Paul  plainly  suggests  in  several  passages 
of  his  epistles.2  Christians  are  subjects  of  a  militant  king- 
dom, and  as  such  they  need  vigilance,  self-discipline  and 
the  power  to  endure  hardness ;  they  need  to  be  armed 
with  the  panoply  of  God,  above  all  with  the  weapon  of 
prayer,  through  which  the  soul  abides  in  union  with  God, 
and  finds  in  Him  the  source  of  all  grace  and  strength  to  do 
His  will. 

Here  it  is  in  place  to  comment  on  the  deeply  suggestive 
form  of  the  petition  Thy  kingdom  come  which  is  given  by 
Gregory  of  Nyssa.^     '  May  Thy   Holy  Spirit  come  upon 

'  Qua  libertate  Christus  nos  liberabit  cum  nos  utique  tradet  regnum 
Deo  et  Patri '  (referring  to  i  Cor.  xv.  24.) 

1  I  Cor.  XV.  25. 

2  See  Rom.  xiii.  12  ;  2  Cor.  x.  5  ;  Eph.  vi.  10  ;  i  Thess.  v.  8  ; 
2  Tim.  ii.  3,  Pet.  Chrys.,  de  orai.  Dom.,  ii.,  says  :  '  Christus  semper 
suo  regnet  in  milite,  ut  miles  semper  suo  triumphet  in  rege.'  The 
manual  of  Erasmus,  Enchiridion  militis  Christiani,  is  well  worth 
reading  in  this  connexion. 

3  de  oratione,  iii.  739  D.  It  appears  from  TertuUian,  adv.  Mar- 
cionem,  iv.  26,  that  Marcion's  text  of  St.  Luke  xi.  2  contained  a 
prayer  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  On  the  whole  subject  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Bp.  Chase's  monograph,  The  Lord's  Prayer 
in  the  Early  Church,  pp.  25  foil.  ('  Texts  and  Studies,'  vol.  i,  no.  3, 
Cambridge,  1891).  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  witnesses  to  this 
reading  do  not  agree  as  to  its  precise  position.  It  is  substituted 
either  for  '  Thy  Kingdom  come,'  or  for  '  Thy  will  be  done.'     For 


io6      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

us  and  purify  us.'  Gregory  observes  that  what  St.  Luke 
calls  the  '  Holy  Spirit/  St.  Matthew  describes  as  '  the  king- 
dom,' and  that,  in  fact,  '  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  kingdom.' 
Bishop  Chase  considers  that  this  version  of  the  petition 
came  gradually  into  use  when  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  recited 
liturgically  at  the  laying  on  of  hands  ;  and  he  suggests 
that  out  of  this  peculiar  form  of  the  clause  may  have  been 
developed  later  invocations  of  the  Spirit,  e.g.,  in  the  con- 
secration of  the  Eucharist,  in  Confirmation,  and  in  Ordina- 
tion. In  this  connexion  particular  stress  is  laid  upon  the 
words  '  upon  us  '  (e'^'  T^.ita?),  which  in  one  important  manu- 
script (D)  is  found  attached  to  the  preceding  petition  '  Hal- 
lowed be  Thy  Name  upon  us.'  The  petition  Thy  kingdom 
come  is  in  effect  a  prayer  for  personal  sanctification  :  for 
the  manifestation  of  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  '  to  usward,' 
that  in  our  lives  the  Name  of  God  may  be  glorified  and  the 
Rule  of  God  established.  Cyprian,  indeed,  observes  that 
'  perhaps  Christ  Himself  is  the  kingdom  Whose  coming 
we  daily  desire.'  ^  For  it  is  the  indwelling  of  Christ  by 
His  Spirit  in  our  hearts  that  bears  fruit  in  righteousness, 
peace  and  joy.  Where  even  one  human  will  is  wholly  dedi- 
cated to  His  blessed  service — realizing  its  entire  dependence 
on  Him  and  seeking  in  all  action  and  suffering  alike  to 
abide  in  union  with  Him — there  the  kingdom  is  actually 
present  and  operative  in  the  world. 

We  may  say  then  that  the  kingdom  is  the  life  of  Christ, 
or  rather  Christ  Himself  Who  is  our  life,  manifested  in 
man  as  a  regenerating  and  sanctifying  forpe.  The  man 
who  is  thus  alive  unto  God  is  himself,  as  Christ  was,  an 
embodiment  of  the  divine  kingdom.  Indeed,  the  '  king- 
dom '  of  the  synoptic  Gospels  and  the  '  eternal  life  '  of  the 

the  connexion  of  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  with  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom,  see  Acts  i.  4-8. 
1  De  oral.  Dom.,  xiii. 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  107 

Johannine  writings  seem  to  correspond  to  each  other  as 
different  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  divine  gift  :  the  gift 
of  the  indwelHng  presence  of  Christ,  so  that  to  each  one  of 
the  regenerate  He  Himself  becomes  the  very  principle  of 
life,  wisdom  from  God,  and  righteousness  and  sanctification 
and  redemption.'^  This  thought  of  the  essential  identity 
of  '  life  '  with  '  the  kingdom  '  perhaps  underlies  the  deep 
saying  of  Irenaeus  '  Gloria  Dei  vivens  homo  '  ;  and  gives 
new  significance  to  the  characteristic  petition  of  Sarapion's 
liturgy  :  '  We  beseech  Thee,  make  us  living  men.'  '  Grant 
that  this  Church  may  be  a  living  and  clean  Church.'  '  We 
ask,'  says  Peter  Chrysologus,  '  that  under  the  rule  of  God 
we  being  set  free  may  reign  unto  eternal  life.'  ^ 

(3)  Thy  kingdom  come  is  also  a  petition  for  that  which 
begins  with  the  regeneration  of  individual  souls,  namely 
the  salvation  of  all  mankind.  We  know  that  such  a  petition 
is  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God  (i  Tim.  ii.  4).  It  corresponds, 
as  Hooker  points  out,  to  God's  '  general  inclination  ' — His 
'  antecedent  will  '—concerning  our  race,  and  the  rule  of 
our  prayers  is  to  be  the  rule  of  that  will  as  interpreted  by 
Christ-like  charity.^  '  Salvation,'  in  the  usage  of  the 
Evangelists,  does  not  signify  deliverance  from  some  unknown 
condition  of  misery  in  a  future  state.  It  means  actual  and 
present  liberation  from  all  the  evils  that  devastate  the 
bodily  life  of  men,  or  hold  their  will  in  bondage.  It  means 
the  '  saving  '  of  manhood  in  its  entirety  from  being  wasted 

^  Col.  iii.  4  ;  Rom.  vi.  11  ;  i  Cor.  i.  30.  See  Bp.  Robertson, 
Regnum  Dei,  pp.  92-97. 

2  See  the  Eucharistic  anaphora  of  Bp.  Sarapion,  with  whom 
the  word  '  Uving  '  in  this  connexion  is  a  favourite  one.  Also  Pet. 
Chrys.  de  orat.  Dom.  i. 

3  Eccl.  Pol.  V.  49,  3  foil.  Hooker  seems  to  borrow  this  phraseology 
from  Chrys.,  horn  in  Eph.  i.  766,  where  the  same  distinction  is 
drawn   between  God's   '  antecedent  will '   {di\7jij.a  irporiyovfievoi')  and 

'  secondary  will  '    {9e\ri/j,a  deurepov). 


io8      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

by  frivolity,  wrecked  by  passion,  embittered  by  envy, 
hardened  and  profaned  by  the  love  of  wealth  or  ease,  para- 
lysed by  doubt,  emptied  of  all  serviceableness  and  joy  by 
luxury  or  sloth.  Consequently  we  may  regard  this  petition 
as  a  prayer  for  the  overthrow  of  all  those  conditions,  physi- 
cal, moral  and  social,  which  hinder  the  manifestation  of 
the  Rule  of  God  ;  which  lay  waste  human  lives  ;  which 
hold  men  back  from  becoming  what  they  are  called  to  be 
— children  of  God  in  reality  as  in  name.  We  pray  for  the 
downfall  of  all  the  organizations  of  error,  superstition  and 
wickedness  which  in  heathen  lands  enslave  the  souls  and 
bodies  of  men.  St.  Paul  in  one  pregnant  sentence  has 
summed  up  the  wretchedness  of  the  Gentile  world  :  having 
no  hope,  without  God  in  the  world}  Indeed,  one  of  the  chief 
incentives  to  zeal  in  the  cause  of  missions  is  a  vivid  appre- 
hension of  the  conditions  which  prevail  where  the  light  of 
the  Gospel  is  unknown.  We  think  of  the  heathen  in  India, 
Africa,  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  and  elsewhere  :  tossed 
to  and  fro  by  forces  of  nature  which  they  cannot  compre- 
hend or  control ;  victims  of  their  own  unbridled  passions  ; 
a  prey  to  the  deliberate  wickedness  of  evil  and  unscrupulous 
men  ;  divided  and  agitated  by  wild  feuds  ;  shaken  by  vain 
terrors ;  maddened  by  drink  or  disease ;  bowed  down 
beneath  the  yoke  of  cruel  superstitions.  This  misery  of 
the  heathen,  without  God  in  the  world,  is  brought  very  near 
to  us  in  days  when  science  has  to  a  great  extent  neutralized 
distance.  We  now  know,  and  can  with  an  effort  imagine, 
for  example,  the  wretchedness  caused  by  the  drink  traffic 
among  the  child-races  of  Africa  or  the  New  Hebrides. 
'  These  natives,'  writes  John  Paton,  '  when  they  are  under 
the  influence  of  liquor  frequently  shoot  each  other  and  shoot 
themselves.'  We  can  dimly  realize  some  of  the  appalling 
evils  connected  with  the  slave  traffic,  with  the  belief  in 
1  Eph.  ii.  12. 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  109 

witchcraft,  with  devil-worship,  with  the  institution  of 
human  sacrifice.  We  shudder  to  think  of  the  ravages 
caused  by  famine,  pestilence  and  tribal  war  in  regions  where 
the  elementary  laws  of  medicine  and  sanitation  are  un- 
known ;  or  of  the  miserable  lot  of  the  many  millions  of 
native  widows  in  India,  a  great  proportion  of  them  mere 
children  :  to-day  petted  and  spoiled,  laden  with  ornaments 
and  tended  by  obsequious  slaves ;  to-morrow  shorn  and 
polluted  outcasts,  beaten,  starved,  neglected,  despised 
drudges — fast  hound  in  misery  and  iron. 

It  is  in  view  of  these  and  similar  facts  that  we  are  taught 
to  pray  Thy  kingdom  come  :  the  kingdom  which  proclaims 
liberty  to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  hound,  deliverance  from  the  yoke  of  sin  and  from 
the  bondage  of  nature  ;  the  kingdom  which  embraces  in 
its  scope  the  whole  of  man's  complex  nature,  bringing 
'  saving  health  '  and  soundness  alike  to  body  and  soul,  and 
manifesting  the  great  Creator  as  the  Saviour,  the  Life-giver, 
the  hope  of  all  the  ends  of  the  earth} 

Nor  is  it  only  the  dark  places  of  heathendom  that  are 
full  of  the  habitations  of  violence.^  When  we  pray  for  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom,  we  should  bear  in  mind  those  terrible 
conditions  of  life  even  in  civilized  States  which  make  a 
pure  and  healthful  moral  life  virtually  impossible  for  multi- 
tudes of  toiling  people  :  the  injustice,  the  callousness,  the 
greed  of  gain,  the  commercial  dishonesty  which  lead  to  the 
exploitation  of  the  poor  and  helpless  classes.  In  the  Psalter 
the  manifestation  of  Jehovah  as  King  is  hailed  as  bringing 
redress  to  the  poor  ;  it  is  He  to  Whom  the  poor  look  for 
deliverance,  for  defence,  for  the  supply  of  their  needs,  for 
the  maintenance  of  their  right.^      For  though  the  kingdom 

1  Isa.  Ixi.  I  ;  Ps.  Ixv.  5,  P.B.  ^  Ps.  Ixxiv.  20. 

^  See,  e.g.,  Ps.  ix.  7  foil.  ;  x.  14  ;  xii.  5  ;  xxxv.  lo  ;  Ixxii.  4  ;  cix, 
31  ;    cxxxii.   15  ;    cxl.   12. 


no      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

of  God  is  infinitely  more  than  a  mere  condition  of  material 
well-being,  it  unquestionably  includes  the  organization  of 
human  society  on  a  basis  of  righteousness  and  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood. 

The  problem  of  the  modern  city  must  needs  weigh  heavily 
upon  the  heart  of  the  Church.  We  think  of  the  almost 
unmanageable  evils  that  have  followed  in  the  train  of  the 
vast  expansion  of  industry  throughout  the  world  :  the 
poignant  contrasts  of  wealth  and  poverty,  luxury  and 
want ;  the  huddled  masses  of  ill-housed  and  ill-nourished 
humanity  ;  the  swarms  of  neglected  children  ;  the  hosts 
of  unemployed  and  unemployable ;  the  dark  depths  of 
destitution,  squalor  and  crime ;  and  all  those  other  social 
conditions  which  are  equivalent  in  fact,  though  not  in  name, 
to  sheer  slavery  :  the  unrelieved  and  scantily  paid  toil  of 
masses  of  workers,  men,  women  and  children  ;  the  desperate 
struggle  for  a  bare  subsistence  ;  the  ruinous  curse  of  drink  ; 
the  detestable  iniquities  of  the  so-called  '  white  slave  * 
traffic.^ 

Confronting  these  facts  of  present-day  life  in  the  modern 
city  stands  the  Church  with  its  gospel  of  a  city  or  kingdom 
of  God  :  its  proclamation  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Lord  of 
human  life. 

'  The  mission  of  the  Church,'  says  a  recent  writer,  '  was 
not  restricted  to  the  individual ;  .  .  .  the  value  of  religion 
lies  not  only  in  the  fact  that  it  voices  individual  emotions 
and  needs.  The  mission  of  Christ  was  also  a  sociological 
mission  ;  the  duty  of  the  Church  resides  also  in  the  ensuring 
of  social  cohesion  and  integration.'  Again,  '  Religion  is 
essentially  an  instrument  of  social  evolution,  seeing  that 
the  raison  d'etre  of  religion  consists  in  the  subordination 

1  I  do  not  forget  the  seriousness  and  urgency  of  the  rural  problem. 
For  a  summary  of  the  evils  crying  for  amendment,  see  Dean  Fry 
in    The   Church   and  New   Century   Problems,   pp.    1 15-135. 


'THY   KINGDOM   COME'  iii 

of  the  individual  to  a  power  higher  than  himself  in  the 
interests  of  Society.'  ^  From  the  first,  the  Christian  Church 
set  before  itself  a  twofold  task.  Its  constant  endeavour, 
on  the  one  hand,  was  to  mitigate  by  active  charity  the 
almost  hopeless  social  evils  incident  to  a  decaying  civiliza- 
tion ;  on  the  other,  its  aim  was  to  pave  the  way  for  better 
conditions  by  regenerating  the  lives  of  individual  men. 
The  '  kingdom  '  or  '  reign  '  of  God  was  established  in  the 
hearts  of  men  that  their  lives  might  act  as  leaven  concealed 
in  the  inert  mass  of  average  humanity  that  surrounded 
them.-  The  leaven  necessarily  worked  as  a  principle  of 
social  unrest  and  disturbance,  affecting  the  traditions  of 
family  life,  the  force  of  age-long  custom,  the  status  of 
women,  of  children,  of  slaves,  even  the  relations  subsisting 
between  the  State  and  its  members.  Although  owing  to 
the  world-wide  growth  of  democracy,  avenues  of  political 
influence  are  open  to  modem  Christians  which  were  unknown 
in  the  early  period  of  the  Church's  history  ;  though  they 
are  free  in  dealing  with  social  disorders  to  protest,  to  agi- 
tate, to  initiate  reforms,  to  employ  the  force  of  organized 
public  opinion  ;  yet  it  remains  true  that  the  best  contribu- 
tion which  an  individual  can  make  to  the  advancement  of 
the  divine  kingdom  on  earth  is  that  of  his  own  regenerate 
personality. 3  Again  and  again,  as  experience  shows,  it  is 
the  faith,  the  patience,  the  courage,  the  persistence  of 
individual  men  that  is  enabled  '  to  use  strength  for  the 
purposes  of  strength,  to  clear  the  path,  dash  obstacles  aside, 


1  G.  Chatterton-Hill,  The  Sociological  Value  of  Christianity, 
pp.  4  and  185. 

2  Matt.  xiii.  33.  Cp.  H.  S.  Holland,  God's  City,  pp.  143-160  ; 
Harnack,  The  Expansion  of  Christianity  in  the  First  Three  Centuries, 
bk.  ii.,  ch.  iii. 

3  Cp.  W.  Rauschenbusch,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  p. 
351. 

/ 


112      THE  RULE  OF  WORK   AND  WORSHIP 

force  good  causes  forward,'  ^  and  so  permanently  to  improve 
the  social  conditions  of  their  time. 

It  is  plain  that  the  petition  '  Thy  kingdom  come  '  rebukes 
anything  like  apathy  and  indifference  in  regard  to  social 
evils.  Used  with  sincerity,  it  is  the  utterance  of  a  heart 
which  feels,  and  a  mind  which  intelligently  considers,  the 
problems  of  the  modern  world. 

Moreover  it  implies  a  clear  apprehension  not  only  of  the 
nature  of  God's  kingdom,  but  also  of  the  methods  by  which 
it  is  to  be  extended.  My  kingdom,  says  our  Lord,  is  not 
of  this  world.^  As  contrasted  with  the  world,  that  is,  the 
order  of  human  society  organized  in  defiance  or  forgetful- 
ness  of  God's  will,  it  proclaims  the  spiritual  principles  of 
a  new  and  eternal  order  :  such  principles  as  are  implied 
in  the  Beatitudes,  or  in  those  profound  and  fruitful  maxims 
of  conduct  which  Christ  illustrated  in  His  own  example  ; 
'  He  that  is  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  as  he  that  doth 
serve  '  ;  '  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive '  ;  'A 
man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that 
he  possesseth  '  ;  '  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil ' ;  '  Seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  '  ;  'Be 
not  anxious  for  the  morrow  '  ;  '  Render  unto  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are 
God's  '  ;  '  Give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you  ' ;  '  Love 
your  enemies  and  do  them  good  '  ;  'As  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them  likewise  '  ;  '  He  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted  '  ;  '  He  that  loseth  his 
life  for  My  sake  shall  find  it '  ;  '  Except  a  grain  of  wheat 
fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it  abideth  by  itself  alone  ;  but 
if  it  die  it  beareth  much  fruit.'  ^ 

The  kingdom  comes  in  proportion  as  these  far-reaching 

1  Lord  Morley,  The  Life  of  W.  E.  Gladstone,  vol.  i.,  p.  218. 

-  John  xviii.  36. 

3  See  generally  Hogg,  op.  cit.,  part  ii,  '  Strangers  and  Pilgrims.' 


'  THY   KINGDOM  COME  '  113 

principles  are  applied  to  the  affairs  of  men  ;  in  proportion, 
that  is,  as  the  revealed  will  of  God  is  embraced  and  fulfilled 
by  individual  men  and  by  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  will 
be  realized  '  not  by  God  without  man  but  by  God  within 
man.'  ^ 

(4)  Thus  the  petition  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  is 
a  prayer  for  the  perfecting  of  the  Church,  for  the  hastening 
of  the  restitution  of  all  things  through  a  wider  knowledge  of 
His  will,  and  a  more  perfect  obedience  on  the  part  of  His 
redeemed  people. 

Not  unnaturally,  early  writers  show  a  tendency  to  refer 
the  petition  primarily  to  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  :  the 
end,  when  He  shall  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the 
Father ;  ^  and  the  question  arises  at  this  point :  What  was 
our  Lord's  anticipation  of  the  future  ?  Did  He  share  the 
Messianic  expectation  current  among  His  contemporaries 
and  regard  His  own  second  advent  as  imminent — as  even 
likely  to  take  place  within  the  life-time  of  some  who  listened 
to  His  preaching  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  not  quite  simple.  We 
undoubtedly  find  that  the  utterances  of  Christ  suggest  two 
distinct  lines  of  thought  about  His  future  coming.  On  the 
one  hand  there  are  passages  which  imply  that  the  advent 
of  the  Son  of  man  in  glory  to  judge  and  deliver  His  people 
is  nigh  at  hand.  This  generation  shall  not  pass  away  until 
all  these  things  he  accomplished.^  On  the  other  hand  there 
are  sayings,  especially  in  the  parabolic  teaching  of  the 
Gospels,  which  suggest  that  the  consummation  of  all  things 
is  a  far-distant  event.  This  is  certainly  the  general  tenour 
of  such  parables  as  those  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  the 
mustard  seed,  the  leaven,  the  ten  virgins,  the  unjust  judge. 

1  The  Practice   of  Christianity   (Macmillan),   p.    112. 

2  I  Cor.  XV.  24. 

^  Mark  xiii.  30  ;    cp.  Matt.  xxiv.  30  foil. 


114      THE   RULE   OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

We  remember,  too,  the  express  statement  that  the  gospel 
must  first  he  preached  unto  all  the  nations,^  which  falls  in 
with  the  mysterious  reference  to  the  times  of  the  Gentiles, 
signifying,  it  would  seem,  a  period  analogous  to  Israel's 
day  of  visitation — the  indefinitely  long  period  during  which 
the  Church  is  engaged  in  evangelizing  the  heathen  world. 
Again,  the  mere  fact  that  our  Lord  instituted  a  Church  in 
order  to  perpetuate  His  work  and  mission  on  earth,  shows 
that  He  anticipated  for  His  kingdom  a  long  and  eventful 
history.  Such  considerations  seem  to  preclude  any  rigorous 
logical  theory,  such  as  that  put  forward  by  a  recent  school 
of  eschatologists,  respecting  our  Lord's  view  of  the  future. 
That  He  incorporated  in  His  teaching  some  leading  Mes- 
sianic ideas  prevalent  in  His  day,  can  scarcely  be  doubted. 
But  that  He  adopted  the  current  eschatology  with  all  its 
apocalyptical  details,  all  its  limitations,  its  conditions,  its 
imaginative  embellishments,  must  be  emphatically  denied. 
In  His  hands,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  Messianic  beliefs 
of  contemporary  Judaism  were  transformed.  Indeed,  a 
great  authority  on  this  point  assures  us  that  Christ's  teach- 
ing '  is  almost  as  much  a  criticism  of  the  popular  ideals  as 
a  preaching  of  them.'  ^ 

The  fact  is  that  the  '  kingdom  '  in  Christ's  teaching  is 
something  already  existing,  yet  also  future.  It  has  already 
come,  but  in  another  sense  is  yet  to  come.  This  dual 
aspect  of  the  kingdom  is  only  one  example  of  other  similar 
'  antinomies  '  in  the  Gospel.  God  is  transcendent,  a  Father 
in  heaven,  but  at  the  same  time  immanent ;  the  sonship 
of  believers  is  a  fact  of  present  experience,  yet  we  wait  for 

1  Mark  xiii.  lo  ;    cp.  Luke  xxi.  24. 

2  Prof.  Burkitt  in  Cambridge  Biblical  Essays,  p.  204.  Mr.  Streeter, 
in  Foundations,  p.  115,  says  on  this  point,  '  We  see  here  that  same 
re-interpretation  of  contemporary  rehgious  behefs  in  the  light  of 
their  underlying  principles,  which  we  have  already  seen  in  His 
treatment  of  the  Law.' 


'THY   KINGDOM  COME'  115 

the  adoption  ;  we  are  redeemed,  yet  we  look  for  redemption  ; 
we  are  saved,  but  are  being  guarded  through  faith  unto  a 
salvation  ready  to  he  revealed  in  the  last  time^ 

It  is  evident  that  the  Christian  Church  did  not  feel  itself 
obliged  permanently  to  accept  the  interpretation  which 
the  earliest  believers  placed  upon  our  Lord's  allusions  to 
His  second  coming.  The  expectation  of  its  immediate 
approach  yielded  in  process  of  time  to  the  logic  of  facts, 
and  the  Church  set  itself  deliberately  to  work  upon  a  task 
which  it  foresaw  might  take  ages  to  accomplish.  Already, 
within  the  period  covered  by  the  New  Testament,  there 
are  tokens  that  the  earliest  form  of  the  Messianic  expecta- 
tion is  undergoing  a  change.  The  idea  of  a  sudden  and 
catastrophic  consummation  of  the  kingdom  is  not  lost,  but 
other  aspects  of  the  Lord's  teaching  emerge  and  have  their 
influence.  Sayings  which  pointed  to  the  delay  of  His 
coming  would  recur  to  the  minds  of  His  disciples  ;  in  par- 
ticular, the  promise  that  His  presence  should  be  with  them 
throughout  the  period  preceding  His  final  advent,  2  Pos- 
sibly we  have  here  an  explanation  of  the  frequency  with 
which  exhortations  to  patience  occur  in  the  later  Apostolic 
writings.  The  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  connects  the  thought 
of  '  patience  '  with  that  of  the  '  kingdom,'  and  St.  Paul  in 
his  last  epistle  quotes  what  seems  to  be  a  fragment  of  a 
familiar  Christian  hymn  :  //  we  endure,  we  shall  also  reign 
with  Him.^ 

^  Rom.  viii.  23  ;    i   Pet.  i.  5. 

^  See  Matt,  xxviii.  20  (cp.  xviii.  20),  which  seems  to  show  that 
Christ  looked  forward  not  only  '  to  a  final,  and  (He  hoped)  not  very- 
distant  return  in  glory,  but  to  an  intervening  ministry  of  prosperous 
activity'  (Hogg,  op.  cit.,  p.  218).  Hogg  thinks  that  in  this  con- 
nexion Christ  may  have  apphed  to  Himself  the  prophecy  of  Isa. 
liii.  10. 

3  Rev.  i.  9  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  12.  Bp.  Westcott  observes  (on  i  Johnii. 
28)  that  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  Johannine  Epistles  the  sub- 


ii6      THE   RULE   OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

Thus  we  may  think  that  the  Church  learned  gradually 
to  set  aside  the  more  crude  interpretation  of  our  Lord's 
Messianic  predictions  which  were  current  among  the  earliest 
believers.  It  came  perhaps  to  be  recognized  that  as  in 
ancient  prophecy,  so  in  Christ's  own  teaching,  the  precise 
time  and  manner  of  fulfilment  is  not  of  primary  importance. 
The  kingdom  of  God  was  actually  present  in  power  ;  but 
the  hour  of  its  final  manifestation  must  needs  depend  upon 
the  intensity,  greater  or  less,  of  human  faith.  In  much 
the  same  way  the  ancient  prophets  proclaimed  the  salvation 
of  Judah  as  a  blessing  of  the  immediate  future  ;  yet  the 
delay  of  the  consummation  did  not  shatter  their  confidence, 
partly  because  they  regarded  even  a  partial  fulfilment  as  a 
pledge  of  an  ampler  and  more  decisive  blessing  yet  to  come  ; 
partly  also  because  they  recognized  the  conditional  character 
of  their  message.  Impenitence  or  apostasy  on  Israel's 
part  must  necessarily  postpone  the  dawn  of  the  Messianic 
age.i  May  we  not  believe  that  an  analogous  feature  is  to 
be  traced  in  our  Lord's  proclamation  of  the  kingdom  ? 
The  rule  of  God  established  in  His  own  Person  was  a  sufficient 
pledge  that  the  kingdom,  already  present  potentially,  would 
ultimately — might  even  in  the  near  future — be  fully  and 
finally  manifested.  Meanwhile  we  may  believe  that  His 
silence  as  to  the  precise  date  when  all  these  things  should  come 
to  pass  was  intended  to  kindle  and  keep  alive  in  the  heart 
of  His  Church  a  temper  of  watchful  expectancy,  of  spiritual 
detachment,  which  might  protect  it  from  undue  reliance 
on  the  essentially  unstable  order  of  an  evil  and  perishing 
world.  2 

ject  of  Eschatology  falls  entirely  into  the  background.  This  is 
significant  of  a  change  of  proportion  in  the  Christian  view  of  the 
future. 

1  Riehm,  Alttestamentliche  Theologie,  p.  222. 

2  Cp.  Burkitt,  ubi  sup.,  pp.  211  foil.  Cp.  R.  Knox,  Some  Loose 
Stones,  p.   121. 


'THY   KINGDOM   COME'  117 

In  the  petition  Thy  kingdom  come  we  pray  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  the  Church  ;  for  the  hastening  of  the  day  when  the 
faithful  shall  receive  the  kingdom  prepared  for  them  ;  when 
the  kingdom  shall  not  only  come,  but  come  to  us.^  The 
visible  Church  is  in  essence  and  idea  one,  but  its  unity  is 
marred  by  man's  wilfulness  ;  it  is  holy,  but  stained  by 
human  sin  ;  catholic  in  capacity,  but  leaving  millions 
outside  its  pale  ;  apostolic  in  discipline  and  doctrine,  but 
in  methods  and  spirit  too  often  worldly  and  of  little  faith. 
Therefore  we  say.  Thy  kingdom  come.  We  ask  that  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  may  ever  more  perfectly  direct  and  rule 
the  Church  ;  that  it  may  be  cleansed  from  all  worldliness 
and  corruption,  all  lukewarmness  and  spiritual  blindness, 
all  divisions  and  heresies — all  that  hinders  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Christ  to  the  world  as  its  rightful  Lord  and  King. 
The  Church  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  identical  with  the 
kingdom  of  God.  It  is  rather  the  chief  agent  and  instrument 
through  which  that  kingdom  is  gradually  established  on 
earth.  2  We  may  certainly  believe,  however,  that  in  the 
Church  the  kingdom  is  already  present  among  men,  especi- 
ally if  we  accept  that  broad  statement  of  St.  Augustine  : 
"  Ubicumque  timetur  Deus  et  laudatur,  ibi  est  Ecclesia 
Dei ' ;  or  of  St.  Irenaeus  :  '  Ubi  Spiritus  Dei,  ibi  ecclesia 
et  omnis  gratia.'  ^  Indeed,  we  may  say  that  the  Church 
perfected  '  shall  be  found  to  be  the  kingdom.'  *  For  the 
kingdom  is  that  sphere  in  which  the  will  of  God  is  intelli- 
gently embraced  and  fulfilled  ;  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
rules  ;  in  which  God  Himself  is  worshipped  as  King,  is 
loved  and  possessed  as  the  chief  good  of  man. 

Finally  we  should  not  forget  to  connect  this  petition 

1  Aug.,  serm.  Ivii.  5. 

2  Bp.   Robertson,    Regniim  Dei,   pp.    75-77. 

3  Enarr.  in  Ps.  xxi.  24  ;  Iren.  iii.  24,  i.     Cp.  Ignat.,  adSmyrn.  8. 
*  Moberly,  Ministerial  Priesthood,  p.  37. 


ii8      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

with  the  elect  people  of  God  who  from  ancient  times  looked 
and  still  look  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom. 
Thy  kingdom  come  may  be  regarded  as  in  part  a  prayer 
for  the  hastening  of  the  time  when  Israel  shall  turn  to  its 
Saviour,  and  the  veil  which  still  lies  upon  its  heart  shall 
be  taken  away  ;  when  He  Who  shed  His  blood  for  the  sancti- 
fication  of  His  people  shall  pour  out  upon  them  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  their  illumination  ;  that  those  who  have  waited 
for  the  kingdom  may  obtain  what  they  seek,  and  may  have 
part  with  us  in  the  glory  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem. 

IV 

The  petition  on  which  we  have  meditated  seems  to  corre- 
spond to  a  certain  temper  or  attitude  of  mind  in  him  who 
offers  it,  namely  a  temper  of  earnest  expectancy  which  is 
ever  looking  for  tokens  of  that — 

'  one  far-off  divine  event 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves.' 

St.  Paul  describes  this  in  a  single  Greek  word  out  of 
which,  it  has  been  well  said,  '  an  artist  might  make  a  statue 
of  hope  !  '  ^  In  his  earliest  epistle  he  speaks  as  if  to  wait 
for  the  Son  of  God  from  heaven  was  the  one  characteristic 
duty  of  the  regenerate  Christian.  ^  At  the  least  we  may 
say  that  it  is  an  essential  element  in  the  true  Christian's 
view  of  life.  In  the  critical  events  of  history,  in  the  slow 
or  sudden  expansion  of  the  Church,  in  the  judgments  which 
faU  upon  a  world  that  forgets  God,  in  the  rise  and  fall  of 
empires,  in  the  social  changes  which  slowly  undermine  the 
existing  fabric  of  civilization  and  give  birth  to  a  new  order 

1  Godet  on  Rom.  viii.  19  ;  cp.  PhU.l.  20.  The  word  in  question 
{awoKapadoKLo)  suggests  the  posturc  of  one  who  waits  with  uphfted 
head,  outstretched  ear  and  absorbed  attention,  for  the  arrival  of 
some  great  one  whose  coming  is  expected. 

*  I  Thess.  i.  10. 


'THY  KINGDOM  COME'  119 

of  things — faith  sees  the  tokens  of  a  final  manifestation  of 
the  divine  kingdom  ;  and  Ufts  up  its  head  as  the  hour  of 
redemption  draws  nigh. 

Accordingly  a  Christian  will  endeavour  to  live  as  one 
who  prays  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  He  will  pass 
through  things  temporal  in  a  spirit  of  detachment ;  He  will 

'stand  in  freedom  loosened  from  this  world,' 

neither  unduly  elated  by  the  blessings  of  earth  nor  cast 
down  by  adversities  ;  since  he  knows  that  here  he  has 
no  continuing  city,  but  that  in  fulfilling  the  will  of  God  he 
belongs  to  a  kingdom  that  cannot  he  shaken. 

In  living  only  unto  God  he  possesses  the  pledge  and  earnest 
of  his  immortality.  The  world  passeth  away  and  the  lust 
thereof ;  hut  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever^ 

1  See  Heb.  xiii.  14  ;  xii.  28  ;  i  John  ii.  17.  Cp.  Cyp.,  de 
oral.  Dom.,  xiv.  :  '  Qui  in  aeternum  manere  volumus,  Dei  qui 
aeternus  est  voluntatem  facere  debemus  '  ;  Aug.,  enarr.  in  Ps.  xci.  8  : 
'  Junge  cor  tuum  immortalitati  Dei  et  cum  lUo  aeternus  eris.'  The 
same  lesson  of  detachment  is  based  by  Chrysostom,  in  Matt.  horn. 
xix.  250  E.,  on  the  words  Thy  kingdom  come.  Reference  may  also 
be  made  to  Dean  Church's  Advent  Sermons  (1885),  no.  i,  'Faith 
amid  changes.' 


CHAPTER   VII 

'  THY  WILL  BE  DONE  AS  IN  HEAVEN  SO  ON 
EARTH'  (St.  Matthew) 

'Voluntas  Dei  est  quam  Christus  et  fecit  et  docuit.' — Cyprian. 
'  Vita  in  voluntate  Ejus.' — Bernard. 

AUGUSTINE'S  reflection  on  the  clause  Thy  kingdom 
come  is  that  whether  we  will  or  no,  the  kingdom  will 
certainly  come.  In  the  same  way,  the  will  of  God  will 
certainly  be  accomplished  in  us  if  not  hy  us.  Tertullian, 
in  whose  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  the  present  petition 
precedes  that  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  makes  a 
similar  comment.  God's  will  shall  be  done,  even  though 
we  do  not  pray  that  it  may  be  so.^  '  Who,'  asks  Cyprian, 
'  hath  resisted, — who  can  resist  His  will  ?  '  Whatsoever 
the  Lord  pleased,  that  did  He  in  heaven  and  in  earth  and  in 
the  sea  and  in  all  deep  places.'^  The  purport  of  this  petition 
is,  therefore,  that  the  will  of  God  may  be  fulfilled  hy  us 
as  well  as  in  us,  and  that  through  this  fulfilment  the  kingdom 
of  God  may  come.  Since  the  divine  purpose  embraces 
things  on  earth  as  well  as  things  in  heaven,  the  petition  Thy 
will  be  done  is  a  summary  of  all  prayer.     It  includes  our- 

1  Aug.,  ep.  cxxx  ad  Probam,  21.  Cp.  serm.  Ivi.  7  :  '  Fiet  enim 
voluntas  Dei  in  te  et  si  non  fit  a  te  '  ;  and  Tert.,  de  orat.  iv  :  '  Non 
quod  aliquis  obsistat  quominus  voluntas  Dei  fiat,'  etc.  (see  Rom. 
ix.  19)  ;  Cyp.,  de  orat.  Dom.  xiv.  ;  cp.  Anselm,  Cur  Deus  Homo, 
i.  15  :  '  Si  [quis]  vult  fugere  de  sub  voluntate  jubente,  currit  sub 
voluntatem  punientem.' 

2  Ps.  cxxxv.  6  (P.B.)  ;  see  also  i  Chron.  xxix.  11  ;  i  Mace.  ill.  60. 

120 


'THY   WILL   BE   DONE'  121 

selves  and  all  mankind  in  one  comprehensive  supplication 
that  all  may  be  brought  into  union  with  God  in  Christ. 
But  it  also  embraces  the  whole  of  created  being.  We  ask 
without  limitation  that  God's  will  may  be  fulfilled  always 
and  everywhere  :  that  earth  may  become  as  heaven — the 
scene  of  a  universal  service  of  God  ;  and  that  so,  not  the 
race  of  man  only,  but  all  things  may  be  reconciled  to  God, 
all  things  gathered  together  in  one,  all  things  drawn  to  His 
feet  ;  that  all  things  may  fulfil,  in  order  and  in  peace,  the 
eternal  law  of  their  being.  ^  Thy  will  he  done.  It  is  the 
utterance  of  man's  desire,  seeking  the  beatitude  for  which 
he  was  created  ;  and  of  man's  submission,  yielding  himself 
up  to  a  wisdom,  love  and    might  higher  than  his  own. 

Thy  will  he  done.  The  thought  that  this  was  the  prayer 
of  Gethsemane,  leads  us  to  consider  it  primarily  as  the  voice 
of  submission. 2 

Bishop  Butler,  in  his  sermon  '  Upon  the  love  of  God,' 
declares  that  '  resignation  to  the  will  of  God  is  the  whole  of 
piety.  .  .  .  The  consideration,  that  the  course  of  things  is 
unalterable,  hath  a  tendency  to  quiet  the  mind  under  it,  to 
beget  a  submission  of  temper  to  it.  But  when  we  can  add, 
that  this  unalterable  course  is  appointed  and  continued  by 
infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  ;  how  absolute  should  be  our 
submission,  how  entire  our  trust  and  dependence  !  '  ^  This 
is  the  real  point.  A  Christian  can  meekly  and  patiently 
acquiesce  in  the  will  of  God,  as  manifested  in  the  course  of 
His  providence,  because  he  knows  that  hy  subjection  to  the 

1  Consider  such  passages  as  Col.  i.  20  ;  Eph.  i.  10  ;  and  John  xii. 
32  (where  the  Vulg.  reads  not  '  omnes  '  but  '  omnia  traham  ad 
Me  ipsum  ') . 

2  Tert.,  de  ovat.  iv  :  '  Jam  hoc  dicto  ad  sufferentiam  nosmetipsos 
praemonemus.' 

3  Sermons,  no.  xiv.  3  (ed.  J.  H.  Bernard).  '  ReUgion,'  Butler 
elsewhere  says,  '  consists  in  submission  and  resignation  to  the 
divine  will '  {Serin,  xv.  9). 


122      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

Father  of  spirits  ^  he  is  yielding  himself  into  the  hands  of 
One  Who  seeks  only  his  highest  good,  of  One  WTio  doth  not 
afflict  willingly  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men,  ^  but  chastens 
them  only  for  their  profit  that  they  may  he  partakers  of  His 
holiness.  It  is  needless  to  enlarge  on  what  is  a  common- 
place of  Christian  experience.  We  may,  however,  remind 
ourselves  that,  in  breathing  the  petition  Thy  will  he  done,  we 
acknowledge  our  own  need  of  discipline  ;  we  confess  that  our 
salvation  depends  as  much  on  bearing  as  on  doing ;  on 
patience  as  on  effort.  We  express  our  willingness  to  suffer 
according  to  the  will  of  God,  committing  ourselves  to  Him  as 
unto  a  faithful  Creator.  ^  For  in  the  following  of  Christ  men 
learn  once  for  all  that  the  escape  from  pain  is  not  the  proper 
object  of  life  ;  since  suffering  is  the  school  of  character,  the 
secret  of  spiritual  power,  and  the  occasion  of  the  noblest 
victories.  They  learn,  too,  that  the  power  of  God  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness,'^  and  that  in  spite  of  all  seeming  defeat 
and  ruin — 

'  He  always  wins  that  sides  with  God.' 

If  they  tread  the  way  of  the  Cross,  they  do  but  follow 
the  footsteps  of  their  Master  and  look  to  share  His  throne.  ^ 

Moreover,  the  religion  of  Christ  has  taught  us  to  discover 
in  patience  under  suffering  a  form  of  heroic  activity.  Even 
our  Lord's  Passion  was  a  triumph  of  love  and  power,  as 
the  language  of  St.  Paul  in  Col,  ii.  15  suggests.  It  was  a 
supreme  display  of  the  moral  energy  of  a  righteous  and 
steadfast  will,  persisting  in  its  course  under  conditions  of 
inconceivable  difficulty  and  distress.  So,  according  to  the 
Christian  idea,  all  suffering  is  transfigured  ;  it  is  a  form  of 
activity  in  so  far  as  it  heightens  life  and  gives  occasion  to 
the  win  to  triumph  over  adverse  circumstances  ;    it  is  a 

^  Heb.  xii.  9,  10.  *  Lam.  iii.  33.  ^  i  Pet.  iv.  19. 

*  2  Cor.  xii.  9.  6  Rev.  iii.  21. 


'THY   WILL  BE   DONE'  123 

display  of  divinely-imparted  strength,  and  is  crowned  with 
the  joy  of  spiritual  achievement  and  victory. ^ 

Thy  will  he  done  is  not  merely  a  cry  of  submission,  but  a 
voice  of  expectant  hope.  It  is  the  confession  of  our  steadfast 
conviction  that  //  we  endure,  we  shall  also  reign  with  Him. 
Taught  by  the  experience  of  the  saints,  we  call  them  blessed 
which  have  endured.'^ 

The  words  '  Thy  will  be  done  '  give  utterance  to  the  spirit 
of  resignation  and  submission  ;  they  also  exclude  the  self- 
confidence  and  boastfulness  of  the  worldly  temper,  which  in 
forming  plans  for  the  future  ignores  both  the  uncertainty 
of  human  affairs  and  the  all-disposing  will  of  God.  In  the 
fourth  chapter  of  his  Epistle  St.  James  rebukes  this  godless 
self-reliance  :  For  that  ye  ought  to  say,  If  the  Lord  will,  we 
shall  both  live,  and  do  this  or  that.^  '  Worldliness  '  means  the 
fulfilment  of  life's  duties,  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  pleasures, 
without  reference  to  God  and  His  will.  The  sin  of  the  world, 
which  the  Lamb  of  God  came  to  take  away,  is  not  primarily 
the  active  infringement  of  moral  law,  but  despite  done  to  the 
love  of  a  divine  Father  ;  non-attention  to  His  claim  ;  for- 
getfulness  of  His  benefits  ;  the  absence  of  response  to  His 
call ;  the  attempt  to  be  independent  of  Him,  and  to  seek 
satisfaction  in  something  that  is  not  God.  Sin  could  only 
be  effectually  done  away  by  One  Whose  law  of  life  was 
expressed  in  the  sentence,  Lo  I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  0  God. 

I 

It  is  natural  to  consider,  next,  some  different  ways  in 
which  the  revelation  of  the  divine  will  is  vouchsafed  to  us. 

1  Cp.  Col.  i.  II  :  '  Strengthened  with  all  power,  according  to 
the  might  of  His  glory,  unto  all  patience  and  longsufiering  with 
joy.' 

2  2  Tim.  ii.  12  ;    James  v.  11.     Cp.  i  Pet.  iv.  12-19. 
^  James  iv.  15. 


124      THE   RULE   OF  WORK   AND  WORSHIP 

I.  In  Nature  the  law  of  God  manifests  itself,  and  that  law 
is  the  embodiment  of  a  moral  will.^  The  Hebrew  Psalmists, 
as  they  contemplated  the  order,  variety  and  beauty  of  the 
physical  world,  discovered  in  it  always  and  everywhere  the 
presence,  the  '  wisdom,'  the  direct  personal  operation  of  the 
living  God  Whom  they  worshipped.  They  gloried  in  the 
steadfastness  with  which  all  created  things  observed  the 
limits  of  their  appointed  course.  They  knew  nothing  of 
'  secondary  causes.'  Looking  out  upon  the  universe,  on 
the  starry  heavens,  on  the  motions  of  planets,  on  the  succes- 
sion of  the  seasons,  on  the  habits  and  movements  of  animals, 
on  all  the  multitudinous  sights  and  sounds  of  inanimate 
Nature,  they  glorified  Jehovah  as  manifesting  Himself  in 
all  that  met  their  senses.  They  called  upon  Nature  to 
uplift  with  them  the  voice  of  benediction.  ^  They  exulted 
in  the  fixity  and  regularity  of  the  natural  order  :  He  hath 
made  them  fast  for  ever  and  ever  :  He  hath  given  them  a  law 
which  shall  not  he  broken.  That  which  we  regard  as  the 
settled  axiom  of  Western  science,  the  uniformity  of  Nature, 
the  reign  of  law,  was  equally  an  axiom  to  the  Jew,  but  it 
was  not  so  much  the  inevitable  result  of  observation  as  a 
plain  consequence  of  the  Hebrew  idea  of  God.  To  the 
devout  Israelite  Jehovah  was  a  Being  Whose  '  word  '  was 
perpetually  discovering  itself  to  man.  Whose  eternal '  truth  ' 
and  '  faithfulness  '  was  everywhere  reflected  in  His  ways 
and  in  His  works.  Christianity  inherits  this  characteristically 
Hebraic  conception  of  Nature,  Our  confession  of  belief  in 
'  God  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,' 
is  an  act  of  faith  in  the  spirituality  of  Nature.  By  the  fixity 
of  its  order,  by  its  rationality,  its  harmony,  its  beauty,  its 

1  Aug.,  de  civ.  Dei,  v.  9  :  '  Ipsas  naturales  [causas]  nequaquam 
ab  lUius  voluntate  sejungimus,  qui  est  auctor  omnis  condi torque 
naturae.'     Cp.  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.,  i.  3,  2. 

2  Ps.  cxlviii.  5,  6. 


'THY   WILL  BE  DONE'  125 

gradation  of  life,  its  manifestation  under  various  forms  of 
one  and  the  same  fundamental  force,  it  bears  witness  to  the 
presence  within  it  of  Will  and  Personality.  Beneath  all 
the  forms  of  power  or  loveliness  which  stir  his  awe  and 
gratitude,  a  believer  in  God  is  aware  of  a  moral  purpose 
controlling  and  directing  the  order  of  the  universe  ;  of  a 
holy  and  invincible  will  that  bears  all  things  onward  in  their 
appointed  course.  For  him.  Nature  is  sacramental ;  it  is 
the  veil  of  a  spiritual  presence,  the  contemplation  of  which 
begins  in  wonder  and  culminates  in  worship.^ 

The  will  of  God,  then,  reads  itself  out  in  Nature — '  the 
Law  which  God  with  Himself  hath  eternally  set  down  to 
follow  in  His  own  works.'  ^  But  the  problem  which  presses 
upon  the  human  heart  is  not  whether  the  order  of  Nature 
bears  witness  to  rational  purpose  in  the  Creator,  but  whether 
it  be  morally  intelligible  ;  whether  its  Author  is  manifested 
therein  as  good  and  beneficent. 

On  this  point  all  we  can  say  is  that  there  are  grounds  for 
hope  and  encouragement.  As  our  knowledge  of  the  universe 
is  enlarged,  we  are  learning  to  revise  the  somewhat  premature 
judgments  of  an  earlier  time.  We  are  discovering  that  the 
prevalence  of  waste  and  suffering  in  Nature  has  been 
exaggerated  in  the  past,  and  that  utility  and  moral  purpose 
are  discernible  in  much  that  formerly  seemed  incompatible 
with  creative  wisdom  and  goodness.  Moreover,  the  whole 
problem  has  come  to  present  itself  in  a  new  light.  The 
rudiments  of  a  power  analogous  to  freedom  of  will  appear 
to  be  present  in  regions  where  its  existence  was  formerly 
undreamed  of  ;  and  it  may  ultimately  appear  that  the 
'  defects  '  (as  they  were  once  called)  of  the  physical  universe 
are  the  counterparts  of  that  moral  failure  and  waste  which 

1  Cp.  J.  B.  Mozley,  University  Sermons,  No.  6,  '  Nature  '  ;  and 
Wordsworth,  Lines  composed  a  few  miles  above  Tintern  Abbey. 

2  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.  i.   16,  i. 


126      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

result  from  the  misuse  of  liberty  by  rational  beings,  * 
However  this  may  hereafter  prove  to  be,  our  present  know- 
ledge points  to  a  moral  justification  of  all  that  perplexes 
us  in  the  order  of  Nature.  We  have  reason  to  hope  that 
there  also  mankind  wiU  learn  to  recognize  the  operation  of 
the  good,  acceptable  and  perfect  will  of  God.^ 

2.  The  will  of  God  is  also  made  known  by  the  light  of 
reason  and  conscience.  The  '  law  of  Nature  '  is  a  revelation 
of  the  divine  requirement.  It  is  the  view  of  some  early 
Christian  writers  that  this  law  is  virtually  identical  with  the 
Decalogue,  which  sets  forth  the  essential  rudiments  of  piety 
and  justice.  3  In  any  case,  the  law  of  Nature,  whether  sub- 
stantially embodied,  or  only  presupposed,  in  the  Decalogue 
and  in  other  primitive  codes,  proclaims  that  this  is  the  will 
of  God,  even  our  sanctification  ;  *  that  it  is  the  duty  of  man 
to  live  according  to  the  nature  bestowed  upon  him,  and 
that  sin  is  contrary  to  that  nature. 

Conscience  again,  is  a  faculty  which  reflects  the  authority 
of  the  'universal  reason  '  ;  which  bears  witness  to  the  claim 
upon  us  of  a  transcendent  and  holy  will,  implying  the  exist- 
ence of  a  personal  Lawgiver  and  Judge.  By  educating 
this  faculty  of  conscience  and  obeying  its  dictates,  we  attain 
to  a  clearer  perception  of  the  divine  requirement.  We  gain 
that  keen  moral  insight  and  spiritual  intelligence  which 
is  the  fruit  of  a  progressive  knowledge  of  His  will.^ 

3.  Further,  we  may  study  the  unfolding  of  the  divine 
will  in  history.  The  great  theme  of  Hebrew  prophecy  is 
that  in  the  events  of  history,  in  the  judgments  which  fall 

1-  On  this  subject,  see  a  useful  and  suggestive  little  book,  God 
and  the  World  :  A  Survey  of  Thought,  by  A.  W.  Robinson,  D.D. 
(S.P.C.K.). 

2  Rom.  xii.  2. 

3  See  on  this  point,  The  Rule  of  Life  and  Love  (Lib.  of  Hist.  Theol.), 
pp.  6  foil.  *  I  Thess.  iv.  3. 

5  Col.  i.  9.     See  Bp.  Lightfoot's  note,  I.e. 


'THY  WILL  BE  DONE'  127 

upon  personal  or  national  transgression,  Jehovah  makes 
known  His  moral  purpose.  He  reveals  Himself  as  educating 
His  chosen  people,  as  controlling  the  restless  movements  of 
the  heathen  nations,  as  chastening  sin,  and  steadily  aiming 
at  the  moral  perfection  of  man.  Human  history  is,  m  fact, 
when  rightly  understood,  the  manifestation  of  a  supra- 
mundane  mind  and  will.  It  is  the  progressive  self -disclosure, 
not  of  mere  force,  nor  even  of  moral  principles,  but  of  a 
Person — of  a  living  will — of  Him  Which  is  from  the  beginning.  ^ 
It  is  this  view  of  history  that  is  characteristic  of  the  Bible, 
which  looks  upon  the  world  in  this  simple  view  as  God's 
world,  as  the  sphere  in  which  the  divine  will  for  creation 
is  continually  manifested. 

'  In  all  these  books  of  Scripture,'  writes  Augustine,  '  those 
who  fear  God  and  meekly  submit  themselves  to  the  rule  of 
piety  seek  to  discover  the  will  of  God.'  '  Scripture,'  he 
says  again,  '  teaches  no  lesson  except  charity,  censures 
nothing  except  selfishness,  and  in  this  way  forms  the  char- 
acter of  men.'  ^  On  this  peculiarity  of  Scripture  Augustine 
bases  its  claim  to  entire  sufficiency  ;  it  supplies,  he  says, 
a  rule  of  faith  and  of  morals,  of  hope  and  of  love  ;  it  declares 
the  unchanging  purpose  of  salvation  which  inspires  all 
God's  dealings  with  our  race  ;  it  passes  judgment  on  all  that 
does  not  come  from  God  nor  lead  to  God  ;  its  message  from 
end  to  end  is  one  and  the  same  :  God  and  His  will. 

4.  So,  finally,  we  find  a  culminating  manifestation  of  the 
divine  wiU  for  man  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Cyprian 
beautifully  expands  this  thought.  '  The  will  of  God  is 
that  which  Christ  both  did  and  taught.      Humility  in  be- 


^    I   John  ii.  13,  eyviCKaTe  t6v   dir    apxrjS.      Contrast  i.  I,  6'  Tjv  (xtt'  apxfis^ 

and    see    Westcott    ad   loc.     Even    heathen   writers    bear    witness 
to  this  truth  in  their  use  of  the  word  Numen  (from  nuo),  signifying 
a  being  who  manifests  or  exercises  will. 
'  Aug.,  de  doctrina,   ii.  9 ;  iii.   10. 


128      THE   RULE   OF   WORK   AND   WORSHIP 

haviour,  steadfastness  in  faith,  modesty  in  speech,  righteous- 
ness in  action,  mercifulness  in  works,  self-discipline  in 
character,  incapacity  to  inflict  an  injury,  readiness  to  endure 
it  patiently  when  inflicted,  peaceableness  towards  brethren, 
whole-hearted  devotion  to  God,  love  toward  Him  as  Father, 
sacred  fear  of  Him  as  God.  To  prefer  nothing  in  the  world 
to  Christ,  to  cling  inseparably  to  His  love,  to  stand  patiently 
and  trustfully  beside  His  cross  when  His  Name  or  honour 
is  at  stake  ;  to  display  self-possession  in  speech  when  we 
are  called  to  confess  Him,  confidence  in  trial  when  we  meet 
our  foes,  and  in  death  patience  which  obtains  the  crown — 
this  is  to  be  a  co-heir  of  Christ,  to  fulfil  the  commandment 
of  God,  to  do  the  will  of  the  Father.'  ^ 

In  Christ  our  manhood  is  exhibited  as  it  was  divinely 
intended  to  be  :  dependent  in  all  things  on  God,  aided  by 
God,  raised  to  the  height  of  its  capacities  by  God.^  In 
Christ  we  see  human  nature  under  the  sole  rule  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  with  every  instinct  and  faculty  subjected  to  the 
divine  will.  To  Him  that  will  is  the  rule  of  work,  of  patience, 
of  desire,  of  prayer.  He  comes  into  the  world  simply  to 
fulfil  it :  to  proclaim  it  in  His  teaching  ;  to  accept  it  in  His 
sufferings  ;  to  find  in  it  the  life  and  sustenance  of  His 
spirit.^  We  learn  by  His  human  example  that  religion 
consists  in  such  a  relationship  of  dependence  toward  God 
as  shall  ensure  to  us  the  knowledge  of  His  will  and  the  grace 


1  de  orat.  Dom.,  xv.  In  the  last  sentence  Cyprian  seems  to  be 
referring  to  arraignment  as  a  Christian  before  a  heathen  court  (in 
quaestione  fiduciam  ...  in  morte  patientiam). 

2  Weston,  The  One  Christ,  p.  138.  Christ  came  '  to  exhibit  man- 
hood to  God  ...  at  its  best  .  .  .  with  those  excellencies  that 
are  possible  to  it  when  constituted  in  God  the  Son,  the  creative 
Word.  Ideal  manhood  is  manhood  dependent  upon  God  and  God- 
aided.' 

3  John  iv.  34  :  '  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me 
and  to  accomplish  His  work.' 


'THY   WILL   BE   DONE'  129 

needful  for  fulfilling  it.  The  rest  of  the  New  Testament 
may  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  commentary  on  the  ideal 
manifested  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  Through  mystical  union 
with  Christ  and  through  the  renewal  effected  by  His  Spirit, 
Christians  are  enabled  to  discover  and  to  '  put  to  the  test ' 
what  God's  present  will  for  them  actually  is.^  This  they 
are  to  do  in  two  ways  :  first,  by  following  obediently  the 
indications  of  that  divine  providence  which  orders  the  course 
of  events,  and  apportions  the  lot  of  individual  men,  in 
accordance  with  a  predestined  purpose  of  grace  ;  secondly, 
by  being  loyal  to  the  moral  light  they  already  possess  in 
Scripture  and  in  conscience.  ^ 

II 

The  first  two  petitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  find  in  the 
third  a  kind  of  natural  climax  ;  consequently  the  words 
'  as  in  heaven  so  on  earth  '  are  supposed  by  many  commen- 
tators to  qualify  all  three  clauses  alike.  '  Heaven  '  is  the 
sphere  in  which  the  Name  of  God  is  perfectly  hallowed  ;  in 
which  the  Rule  of  God  is  perfectly  established  and  fulfilled  ; 
in  which  His  Will  is  perfectly  done.^  Our  prayer  is  that 
earth  may  be  made  a  heaven  ;  that  to  all  orders  of  creatures 
alike  the  divine  will  may  be  a  law  and  a  delight.  Accordingly 
we  may  regard  this  petition  as  a  request  for  three  things  in 
particular  :  for  a  true  conversion  ;  for  grace  to  co-operate 
intelligently  with  the  revealed  purpose  of  God  ;  for  per- 
severance in  the  service  of  God  in  spite  of  hindrances  and 
difficulties.* 

I.  We  pray  for  a  true  conversion  ;  we  ask  that  with  our 
whole  personality — the  reason,  the  affections,  the  will  and 

^  Rom.  xii.  2  ;    cp.  Phil.  i.   10.  ^  John  vii.   17. 

3  This  is  the  teaching  of  the  Roman  Catechism  put  forth  at  Trent. 
*  Pet.  Chrys.,  de  orat.  Dom.  v.,  says  :  '  Tunc  jam  totum  est  caelum 
.  .  .  quando  omnes  solius  Dei  sapiunt  et  faciunt  voluntates,'  etc. 

K 


130      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

the  body  which  is  the  instrument  of  our  service — we  may 
turn  to  God  and  live  unto  Him.  But  man's  central  and 
dominant  faculty  is  his  will.  '  The  will  is  the  man.'  ^ 
It  is  t  -)  the  will  rather  than  to  emotion  or  reason  that  our 
Lord  invariably  appeals.  Faith  and  repentance  are  co- 
ordinate movements  of  the  will  :  faith  being  an  act  of  per- 
sonal adhesion  to  God,  while  repentance  is  the  voluntary 
repudiation  of  sin  :  the  opposition  of  the  entire  self  to  sin. 
As  the  prayer  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  is  primarily  a 
request  for  spiritual  victory  in  our  conflict  with  the  enemies 
of  the  soul,  so  the  petition,  Thy  will  be  done,  is  a  request  for 
grace  to  overcome  all  that  hinders  a  perfect  conversion : 
aU  weakness  and  waywardness  of  intention,  all  obstinacy 
and  self-will,  all  inordinate  affection,  all  self-delusion  and 
half-heartedness  which  may  hold  us  back  from  a  complete 
surrender  of  our  whole  nature  to  God.^  Sanctification, 
which  is  the  will  of  God  for  us,^  implies  the  dedication  of 
every  thought  and  impulse  to  God  ;  concentration  of  purpose 
on  a  single  object — that  of  pleasing  Him.  Conversion, 
therefore — at  least  in  its  initial  stage,  for  it  is  a  lifelong 
movement  of  the  soul — lies  at  the  threshold  of  the  life  in 
God  and  unto  God  to  which  we  are  pledged  in  baptism. 
'  This,'  says  Bernard,  '  is  the  beginning  of  our  salvation — 
when  we  begin  to  abhor  what  we  once  loved,  to  grieve  for 
that  in  which  we  used  to  delight,  to  embrace  what  we  used 
to  fear,  to  follow  what  we  used  to  avoid,  to  choose  what  we 
used  to  despise.'  *  We  are  born  anew  in  order  that  we  may 
live  henceforth  no  longer  to  the  lusts  of  men,  but  to  the  will 
of  God.^    Conversion  is  an  entire  change  of  heart  and  mind, 

1  T.  H.   Green,  Prolegomena  to  Ethics,  p.   179.     Augustine  has 
the  same  thought,  de  civ.  Dei,  xiv.  15. 

2  Chrys.,  horn,  in  Matt.  xix.  251  C,  says  that  this  petition  is  a  prayer 
for  perfection — that  we  may  no  longer  do  God's   will  '  by  halves  ' 

(ej  Tj/J-Laeias).  ^    I    ThesS.   iv.    3. 

*  Seym,  in  circumcisione  Dom.,  ii.  5.  ^  i  Pet.  iv.  2. 


'THY  WILL  BE  DONE'  131 

by  which  a  new  direction  is  given  to  Hfe.  Since,  then,  this 
is  necessarily  the  work  of  God  Himself,  Thy  will  he  done 
is  a  prayer  for  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  in  our  lives. 
This  is  the  law  of  the  new  life  to  which  we  are  called.^ 
Where  the  living  Spirit  effectually  works,  human  life  is 
ordered  according  to  the  will  of  God  and  responds  to  His 
creative  purpose,  by  devoted  obedience,  brave  patience, 
persevering  prayer  and  perpetual  thanksgiving.  ^  That  this 
Christ-life  may  be  ever  more  perfectly  manifested  in  us 
we  pray,  Thy  will  he  done.  Perfectionem  optamus  quando 
hoc  oramus  is  Augustine's  comment. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  this  petition  we  pray  for  the  con- 
version of  sinners.  Augustine  mentions  as  '  a  pious  inter- 
pretation '  the  suggestion  that  heaven  signifies  the  Church, 
and  earth  its  enemies.^  In  any  case  we  may  regard  this 
as  a  prayer  for  all  those  who  in  any  way  resist  or  ignore 
the  will  of  God,  choosing  what  He  abhors  or  practising  that 
which  He  forbids  ;  for  all  who  wilfully  sin  against  Him, 
ignorantly  dishonour  Him,  or  neglect  to  serve  Him.  We  ask 
that  they  too,  with  us,  may  submit  to  His  rule  and  embrace 
His  purposes  ;  that  being  cleansed,  renewed  and  sanctified, 
they  also  may  learn  to  glorify  His  name  and  to  set  forward 
His  kingdom. 

2.  St.  Paul  lays  stress  upon  the  virtue  of  practical  wisdom, 
or  insight — the  quality  which  enables  the  Christian  to  under- 
stand what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is.  *  Thy  will  he  done  is  a 
request  for  grace  to  co-operate  intelligently  with  the  purpose 
of  God.  Religion  is  a  relationship  of  love  between  man  and 
God,  and  the  object  of  prayer  is  to  obtain  such  a  comprehen- 
sion of  God's  ways  and  methods  of  action,  of  His  thoughts  and 

1  T.  Aquin.,  Summa,  i.  ii^®  106,  i  concl.  :  '  Lex  nova  principaliter 
ipsa  gratia  est   Spiritus   sancti   in   corde   fidelium   scripta'. 

2  Cp.  Eph.  vi.  6  ;    i  Pet.  iii.   17  ;    i  Thess.  v.  18. 

3  Sserm.  Ivi.  8.  *  Eph.  v.  17. 


132      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

intents,  as  may  enable  man  to  act,  and  to  organize  life,  as  a 
whole  and  in  detail,  in  harmony  with  God's  revealed  will. 
Now  it  is  evident  that,  according  to  the  divine  ideal  for 
humanity,  each  individual  fulfils  his  true  function,  and  finds 
his  highest  happiness,  in  contributing  to  the  common  good 
of  human  society.  We  are  members  one  of  another,  and  it 
is  only  through  the  discipline  of  corporate  life  that  we  attain 
to  the  measure  of  perfection  of  which  each  is  capable.  This 
law  of  life  may  be  illustrated  alike  in  the  example  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  State.  In  i  Corinthians  xii.  St.  Paul 
applies  to  the  Church  the  analogy  suggested  by  the  bodily 
organism  of  man.  The  welfare  of  the  whole  body  depends 
upon  the  due  fulfilment  of  function  by  each  member.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  the  Apostle  lays  great  stress  on  the  fact 
that  this  law  of  the  dependence  of  all  on  the  ministry  of 
each  is  an  ordinance  of  the  divine  will.  It  is  the  same  God 
Who  worketh  all  things  in  all  ;  the  one  Spirit  Who  distributes 
diversities  of  gifts,  dividing  to  each  one  severally  even  as 
He  will.  God,  says  the  Apostle,  hath  set  the  members  each  one 
of  them  in  the  body  even  as  it  pleased  Him  ;  has  tempered 
the  body  together  with  a  view  to  its  unity,  that  the  members 
should  have  the  same  care  one  for  another.  ^  The  same  general 
idea  is  developed  in  Romans  xii.,  namely,  that  the  special 
gift  or  endowment  of  each  member  of  the  Church  is  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  the  whole  body.  The  ke5mote  of 
the  chapter  is  the  acknowledgment  of  the  good  and  acceptable 
and  perfect  will  of  God  as  the  law  of  man's  social  life.  This 
law  is  fulfilled  by  each  in  so  far  as  he  estimates  aright  his 
significance  and  place  in  the  body,  and  diligently  uses  on 
behalf  of  the  body  his  own  special  gift.  We  attain  to  the 
perfection  of  our  nature  by  living  in  accordance  with  the 
divine  idea  of  a  Church  ;  by  obeying  the  rule.  Through  love 
he  servants  one  to  another.^ 

^  I  Cor.  xii.  6,  7,  11,  18,  24,  25.  ^  Gal.  v.  13. 


'THY  WILL  BE  DONE'  133 

That  which  is  true  of  the  Church  is  true  also  of  the  State. 
If  indeed  we  survey  human  civihzation  as  a  whole  we  are 
obliged  to  confess  that  it  represents  a  vast  perversion  of  the 
ideal  which  St.  Paul's  analogy  of  the  body  suggests.  It 
displays  on  a  large  scale  the  triumph  of  the  forces  of  self- 
assertion  and  self-seeking.  The  idea  of  a  bond  of  common 
interest,  or  mutual  dependence,  uniting  all  classes,  is  lacking  ; 
and  individualistic  theories  of  society  are  tacitly  taken  for 
granted  which  apply  to  it,  not  the  scriptural  analogy  of  the 
body,  but  that  of  the  '  cosmic  process  '  with  its  ruthless 
struggle  for  existence,  its  elimination  of  the  weak,  its  dis- 
regard of  the  individual.  But  we  have  been  opportunely 
reminded  that  '  the  cosmic  process  has  no  sort  of  relation 
to  moral  ends'  ;  ^  rather  it  has  to  be  combatted  by  free 
moral  effort  on  man's  part.  For  the  spirit  of  individualism 
is  in  fact  the  outcome  of  a  naturalistic  and  unspiritual  view 
of  the  universe.  The  social  life  of  humanity  is  not  a  mere 
competitive  struggle.  The  spirit  of  competition  unqualified . 
or,  as  we  might  say,  unmoralized,  is  the  ^ery  negation  01 
unity — indeed,  can  only  be  a  principle  of  separation  and 
division — and  is  therefore  manifestly  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God.  Thy  will  be  done  is  a  prayer  by  which  we  throw 
ourselves  upon  the  side  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  forces 
which  are  at  work  in  the  universe,  and  which  find  their  home 
in  the  Church  :  faith,  mercy,  brotherly  love,  self-control, 
self-sacrifice,  charity.  These  are  agencies  which  tend,  if 
they  are  allowed  free  play,  to  make  the  kingdom  of  the  world 
the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ.  ^  We  pray  that 
the  Church  may  be  delivered  from  the  spirit  of  worldliness, 
from  excessive  dependence  on  material  agencies,  from 
blindness  of  heart,  from  the  waning  of  love  ;  and  in  so  pray- 
ing we  ask  for  that  which  will  build  up  and  make  sound  the 

1  T.  H.  Hu-Kley,  Evolution  and  Ethics  (Romanes  Lecture  for  1893), 
p.  34.  2  Rev.  xi.   15. 


134      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

fabric  of  the  State.  We  ask  that  through  the  moral  and 
spiritual  regeneration  of  individual  men,  through  the  spread 
of  nobler  ideals  of  life  and  higher  standards  of  action,  the 
sores  of  modern  civilization  may  be  healed. 

This,  then,  is  a  prayer  that  each  individual  may  discover 
and  fulfil  his  true  vocation,  and  may  learn  to  understand  its 
relation  to  the  divine  purpose  for  mankind  ;  a  prayer  that 
we  may  understand  the  times  in  which  we  live,  and  '  buy 
up  '  the  opportunities  which  it  offers.^  We  may  recall  the 
vivid  appeal  of  the  martyr  Ignatius  to  his  brother-bishop 
Polycarp  :  '  The  season  requireth  thee  as  pilots  require 
winds  or  as  a  storm-tossed  mariner  a  haven,  that  it  may 
attain  unto  God.  Be  sober,  as  God's  athlete.  .  .  .  Learn 
by  heart  the  seasons.  Await  Him  that  is  above  every 
season,  the  Eternal,  the  Invisible,  Who  became  visible  for 
our  sake.'  ^  We  best  serve  our  generation  by  recognizing 
the  significance  and  the  limits  of  the  task  assigned  to  us, 
and  by  finding  in  the  indications  of  His  providence  the 
tokens  of  His  will. 

It  is  not  for  their  own  sake  merely,  but  for  that  of  others 
also,  that  Christians  ought  to  make  their  vocation  in  life  a 
matter  of  prayer.  For  ourselves  we  should  certainly  ask, 
Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do}  ^  prepared  to  find  that 
we  are  led  onwards  step  by  step  without  any  immediate 
vision  of  '  the  distant  scene,'  and  confident  that  in  loyally 
fulfilling  the  duty  of  the  moment  we  are  in  the  path  which 
leads,  as  it  led  Saul  of  Tarsus,  to  that  knowledge  of  God's 
will  which  we  seek.  ^  Vocation  is  seldom  made  immediately 
clear ;  certainty  in  this  matter,  as  in  others,  is  the  reward 

^  Eph.  V.  i6. 

2  Ignat.,  ad  Polyc,  2,  3.  So  Bernard  writes  to  Pope  Eugenius 
III  :  '  Disce  exemplo  prophetico  praesidere  non  tarn  ad  imperitan- 
dum,  quam  ad  factitanduni  quod  tempus  requirit '  {de  consider atione, 
ii.  6,  9). 

3  Acts  ix.  6,  A.V.   (omitted  in  R.V.).  ^  See  Acts  xxii.  14. 


'THY  WILL  BE  DONE'  135 

of  patience  ;  it  is  '  the  crown  of  obedience,  not  the  fruit  of 
laxity.'  Nor  must  a  Christian  forget  that  he  is  bound  by 
the  very  law  of  the  kingdom,  and  by  the  very  terms  of  the 
Lord's  prayer,  to  consider  the  bearing  of  his  decision  upon 
the  well-being  of  others.  For  no  man  liveth  to  himself ; 
and  the  welfare  of  human  society  as  a  whole  depends  upon 
the  diligence  with  which  each  individual  seeks  to  discover 
the  will  of  God  for  himself,  and  labours  faithfully  to  fulfil  it. 
3.  The  petition  which  we  are  considering  is  also  a  prayer 
for  perseverance.  There  have  been  many  different  inter- 
pretations of  the  phrase  '  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth.'  Cyril 
of  Jerusalem  and  others  naturally  find  in  it  a  reference  to  the 
angelic  hosts,  to  whose  service  and  ministry,  indeed,  our 
Lord  frequently  alludes.  They  dwell  upon  the  loyalty  and 
promptitude  of  angels  in  fulfilling  the  will  of  God  ;  their 
utter  freedom  from  envy,  rivalry  or  discontent  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  appointed  tasks  ;  their  joy  in  ministering 
to  the  future  heirs  of  salvation.^  Augustine  in  one  place 
suggests  that '  heaven '  means  the  saints,  and  '  earth  '  ordin- 
ary Christians.  Others  (Tertullian  and  Cyprian)  regard 
'  heaven  '  and  '  earth  '  as  equivalent  to  spirit  and  flesh,  ^ 
and  interpret  the  petition  as  a  prayer  that  the  flesh  may 
in  all  men  be  subdued  to  the  spirit,  and  that  the  conflict 
between  the  higher  and  the  lower  natures  may  cease  ;  that 
every  thought  and  impulse  may  be  brought  into  subjection 
to  the  rule  of  Christ.  But  perhaps  the  most  probable  sug- 
gestion is  that  our  Lord,  while  primarily  referring  to  the 
example  of  the  angels,  also  desired  to  draw  the  attention 
of  His  disciples  to  the  beauty,  glory,  order  and  harmony 
displayed  in  the  visible  heavens.  There  the  thought  of  the 
Psalmist  finds  its  most  perfect  illustration, 

1  Heb.  i.  14,  A.V. 

'  So  Augustine  in  serm.  Ivi.  8  :  '  Mens  caelum  est,  caro  terra  est,* 
etc. 


136      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

O  Lord,  Thy  word  endureth  for  ever  in  heaven. 
Thy  truth  also  remaineth  from  one  generation  to  another  : 
Thou  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  and  it  abideth. 
They  continue  this  day  according  to  Thine  ordinance  : 
For  all  things  serve  Thee.^ 

The  fixed  order  of  the  constellations,  the  regular  return 
of  the  seasons,  the  unfailing  '  ordinance  '  of  the  sun  and 
of  the  moon,  these  are  repeatedly  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  typifying  the  covenant  faithfulness  of  the 
God  of  Israel.  -  They  also  illustrate  that  unbroken  obedience 
to  divine  law,  that  unwearied  persistence  in  the  fulfilment 
of  an  appointed  function,  which  is  the  condition  of  well- 
being  for  all  God's  creatures  alike.  Accordingly,  we  are 
justified  in  thinking  that  in  this  petition  we  pray  for  patient 
continuance  in  well-doing  ^ ;  for  a  fixed  habit  of  obedience 
which  may  serve  to  sustain  us  and  keep  us  faithful  even 
in  times  of  weariness,  depression,  torpor  and  spiritual 
dryness. 

Origen  *  suggests  that  '  heaven  '  may  well  signify  Christ, 
and  '  earth  '  the  Church.  In  the  life  of  Christ  we  see  the 
will  of  God  done  '  as  in  heaven  '  ;  for  His  own  words  are,  / 
do  always  those  things  that  please  Him.^  Like  the  stillness 
of  the  far-off  heavens  is  the  divine  quietness  with  which  He 
works.  All  is  done  opportunely  and  in  due  order,  without 
haste,  impatience,  or  undue  delay.  Our  prayer  is  that  we 
'  may  follow  the  example  of  His  patience,'  that  in  toil  and 
suffering  alike  we  may  continue  with  Him  and  overcome  as 
He  overcame.^ 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  sovereign  aid  to  persever- 
ance is  to  be  found  in  loving  thoughts  of  God.  If  we  look 
to  Him,  reverence  Him  and  trust  Him  as  '  our  Father,'  we 

1  Ps.  cxix.  89  foU.  (P.B).     Cp.  Ps.  xix.  i  foil. ;    cxlviii,    i  foil. 

2  See  Jer.  xxxi.  35,  36  ;  xxxiii.  20,  25  ;  Isa.  liv.  9  ;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  37. 
^  Rom.  ii.  7  (A.V.).  *  de  orat.  xxvi.  3. 

*  John  viii.  29.  ^  Luke  xxii.  28  ;    Rev.  iii.  21. 


'THY  WILL  BE  DONE'  137 

shall  be  assured  of  His  unchanging  goodwill  towards  His 
children,  His  readiness  to  help,  to  give,  to  bless.  The  whole 
experience  of  life  will  encourage  us  to  persevere,  since  it 
will  strengthen  our  conviction  that  God  is  a  Father  Who 
calls  us  to  work  or  to  suffer  only  for  our  good,  lays  on  us  no 
burden  which  He  does  not  strengthen  us  to  bear,  and  carries 
us  steadily  onward  towards  that  '  perfection  '  which  is  the 
goal  of  our  pilgrimage.^  Overshadowed  by  His  mercies  we 
pray,  Thy  will  he  done  ;  upheld  by  His  arm,  we  may  run  our 
race  with  patience  and  good  hope. 

HI 

It  is  obvious  that  the  words  Thy  will  he  done  are  a 
compendium  or  summary  of  all  prayer,  infinite  in  range, 
all-inclusive  in  content.  The  petition  stands  broad-based  on 
an  unbounded  faith  in  the  providence  and  power,  the  love 
and  wisdom  of  God,  who  is  able  to  do  exceeding  ahundantly 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  whether  for  the  overthrow  of 
evil  or  for  the  establishment  of  His  kingdom  on  earth  ;  for 
the  conquest  of  sin  or  for  the  sanctifying  of  His  people. 
An  English  mystic  has  defined  prayer  as  '  a  true  lasting  will 
of  the  soul  united  and  fastened  into  the  will  of  our  Lord  by 
the  sweet  inward  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  2  Prayer  is 
will  embracing  the  divine  will ;  and  since  the  will  of  God 
is  the  salvation  of  men,  the  prayer  Thy  will  he  done  is  a 
sacrifice  pleading  with  power  on  behalf  of  all  men  ;  that 
all  may  effectually  respond  to  His  call,  and  may,  by  dedi- 
cating themselves  to  His  service,  make  earth  what  heaven 
is,  the  sphere  in  which  creaturely  life,  fulfilling  the  will  of 
God,  finds  its  blessedness  and  its  peace. 

1  Rom.  viii.  26 ;  Heb.  vi.  i   {(pepdifieda). 

2  Julian  of  Norwich. 


138      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

'  Come  del  suo  voler  gli  angeli  tuoi 
Fan  sacrificio  a  te,  cantando  Osanna, 
Cosi  facciano  gli  uomini  de'  suoi.'  ^ 

For  this  unfathomable  petition  corresponds  to  the  very 
substance  and  reality  of  religion.  Not  every  one  that  saith 
unto  Me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ; 
but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  My  Father  that  is  in  heaven.  It  is 
a  prayer  bringing  the  soul  into  mysterious  and  sacred 
affinity  with  Him  Who  said,  Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of 
God,  the  same  is  My  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother. 

1  Dante,  Purgatorio,  cant,  xi,  10-12.     See  Aug.  de   civ.  Dei,  x. 
7,  and  cp.  the  lines  in  Paradiso,  cant,  iii,  79-82,  85. 

Anzi  e  formale  ad  esto  beato  esse 
Tenersi  dentro  alia  divina  voglia. 
Per  ch'  una  fansi  nostra  voglie  stesse. 


E  la  sua  volontate  e  nostra  pace. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD' 

(St.  Matthew) 

'  GIVE  US  DAY  BY  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD  ' 

(St.  Luke) 

'  Christus  panis  noster,  quia  vita  Christus  et  vita  panis.' — Tertullian. 

THE  remaining  petitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  of  which 
this  is  the  first,  are  unUke  those  which  precede, 
inasmuch  as  they  have  respect  only  to  this  present  Hfe. 
They  are  '  prayers  of  our  pilgrimage.'  From  the  thought 
of  God,  His  Name,  His  Kingdom  and  His  Will,  we  turn  to 
our  own  needs  as  His  children.  We  need  strength  to  do 
His  will ;  pardon  for  past  offences  ;  guidance  in  the  way 
that  leads  to  life  ;  protection  and  deliverance  from  the 
enemies  that  withstand  or  assail  us.  But  our  most  elemental 
need  is  sustenance.  '  True  it  is,'  says  Hooker,  '  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  must  be  the  first  thing  in  our  purposes 
and  desires.  But  inasmuch  as  righteous  life  presupposeth 
life  ;  .  .  .  therefore  the  first  impediment,  which  naturally 
we  endeavour  to  remove,  is  penury  and  want  of  things 
without  which  we  cannot  live.'  ^  The  end  of  life  is  the 
service  of  God.  Therefore  we  pray.  Give  us  our  daily  bread  ; 
'  Deal  with  us  after  Thy  goodness,  Who  givest  food  to  all 

1  Eccl.  Pol.  i.  X.  2.  He  is  perhaps  thinking  of  Aug.  de  civ.  Dei 
xix.  3,  I  :  '  Qualiscunque  vita  sine  uUa  virtute  potest  esse  ;  virtus 
vero  sine  ulla  vita  non  potest  esse.' 

139 


140      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

flesh  :  fill  our  hearts  with  joy  and  gladness  that  we  also, 
always  having  sufficiency  in  all  good  things,  may  abound 
unto  every  good  work.'  ^ 


The  exact  interpretation  of  this  clause  has  been  a  matter 
of  almost  interminable  discussion.  The  epithet  translated 
'  daily  '  [iTnovcrco'^)  is  remarkable,  not  only  as  being  the 
only  adjective  used  in  the  Lord's  prayer,  but  also  as  being 
unique  in  itself.  It  is  conjectured  by  Origen  that  the 
word  was  coined  by  the  Evangelist  in  order  to  render  in 
Greek  the  Aramaic  expression  used  by  our  Lord  Himself. 
Touching  its  meaning  there  have  been  many  suggestions  : 
e.g.,  '  bread  for  the  day,'  '  to-morrow's  bread,'  '  continual 
bread  '  (with  a  possible  allusion  to  the  shew-bread),^  '  suffi- 
cient bread,'  '  our  each-day  bread,'  '  the  bread  appointed 
as  our  portion,'  '  the  bread  pertaining  to  our  essential ' 
or  '  eternal '  life, '  our  supersubstantial '  or  '  spiritual  bread.' 
The  most  satisfactory  explanation,  however,  is  that  given 
by  Bishop  Chase  in  his  work  on  The  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Early 
Church.  He  thinks  that  the  original  petition  probably 
ran  as  follows  : — 

'  To  us  give  our  bread  of-the-day  ' ; 

and  he  suggests  that,  according  as  the  prayer  was  used  at 
the  morning  or  at  the  evening  service  of  the  Church,  the 
clause  was  adapted  to  suit  the  hour.  Thus,  in  the  morning, 
the  phrase  would  be,  '  our  bread  of  the  day  ' ;  in  the  evening, 

1  From  the  intercession  in  the  Liturgy  of  the  Coptic  Jacobites. 
See  Brightman,  Liturgies  Eastern  and  Western,  p.  i68  ;  and  cp, 
p.  128.  The  references  are  to  Ps.  cxxxvi.  25 ;  Acts  xiv.  17;  2  Cor. 
ix.  8. 

2  Num.  iv.  7  (ot  &pTot  ol  StaTrafTos)  ;    2   Chron.  ii.  4. 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY    OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    141 

'  our  bread  for  the  coming  day.'  ^  It  would  appear,  then, 
that  St.  Matthew  gives  the  common  formula  used  at  morning 
prayer  [arj/xepov),  St.  Luke  that  of  the  evening  (to  kuO' 
rjfiepav).  If  it  be  asked,  What  is  the  relation  of  the  petition 
in  its  present  form  to  the  words  used  by  our  Lord  Him- 
self ?  the  answer  seems  to  be  that  the  original  phrase 
'  of  the  day  '  is  twice  represented  :  (i)  in  St.  Matthew's 
'  this  day  '  and  St.  Luke's  '  day  by  day  '  ;  and  (2)  in  the 
epithet  e7rtovaio<;,  which  early  established  itself  in  the 
liturgical  use  of  the  prayer.  It  seems  most  probable  that 
this  word  was  not  a  part  of  the  original  clause,  but  that  it 
came  into  use  among  Greek-speaking  Christians  at  a  very 
early  period,  and  so  secured  a  permanent  place  in  the  Greek 
form  of  the  prayer.  As  to  its  meaning,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  had  a  temporal,  not  a  mystical  sense  :  in 
other  words,  that  its  meaning  is  '  needful  for  the  morrow ' 
or  '  for  the  coming  day,'  rather  than  '  spiritual '  or  '  super- 
substantial.'  2 

Such  seems  to  be  the  best  account  that  can  be  given  of 
the  way  in  which  the  petition  for  daily  bread  reached  its 
present  form.  In  any  case  it  strikes  the  keynote  of  man's 
dependence  upon  God  for  the  supply  of  every  need.     Our 


1  In  Prov.  xxvii.  i  the  Heb.  word  Yom,  '  a  day  '  (R.V.)  is  trans- 
lated by  the  LXX.,  ^  e-wlovaa,.  But  early  in  the  verse  occurs  the 
expression  Yom  mdhdr  =  '  day  of  to-morrow  '  {aHoLov).  Possibly 
the  Gk.  Movcra.  was  coined  to  represent  the  Heb.  mahdr.  Jerome 
on  Matt.  vi.  II  says  :  '  In  evangelio  quod  appellatur  secundum 
Hebraeos,  pro  suhstantiali  pane  reperi  mdhdr  quod  dicitur  crastinum  ; 
ut  sit  sensus  Panem  nostrum  crastinum,  id  est  futurum,  da  nobis 
hodie.'     Cp.  Matt.  vi.  34  as  illustrating  this  sense. 

2  Dr.  C.  Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers,  pp.  180  foil., 
observes  that  the  mystical  sense  assigned  to  the  word  seems  to  be 
characteristic  of  the  African  Fathers,  who  interpret  '  daily  bread  ' 
as  meaning  the  Eucharist ;  and  who  probably  supposed  that  a 
request  for  temporal  sustenance  was  out  of  place  in  a  divine  form 
of  Prayer. 


142      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

physical  life  is  a  derived,  dependent  life  :  upheld,  protected, 
nurtured  by  the  care  and  forethought  of  parents,  guardians, 
teachers  and  friends,  who  have  been  to  us  the  ministers  of 
the  divine  providence.  Indeed,  the  whole  order  of  human 
society  is  so  constituted  as  to  provide  the  elemental  con- 
ditions necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  life,^  Our  spiritual 
life,  again,  is  a  derived  life.  The  sanctity  at  which  Christians 
aim  is  a  derived,  dependent  sanctity  :  a  righteousness  of 
God — imparted,  nourished,  approved  by  God  :  an  eternal 
life  which  is  theirs  only  in  and  through  the  Person  of  another. 
This  life  is  in  His  Son.^  The  spirit  of  dependence  is,  in 
fact,  a  law  of  creaturely  life  ;  and  we  see  its  archetypal 
embodiment  in  the  Only-begotten  of  the  Father  Himself. 
As  the  living  Father  sent  Me,  He  says,  and  I  live  because 
of  the  Father,  so  he  that  eateth  Me,  he  also  shall  live  because 
of  Me.  As  the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  even  so  gave  He  to  the 
Son  also  to  have  life  in  Himself ;  ^  and  therefore,  as  St.  Basil 
says,  '  Toward  Him  (the  Son)  all  things  turn  with  irresistible 
desire  and  ineffable  yearning  ;  looking  to  the  Author  and 
Giver  of  life,  according  to  that  which  is  written,  The  eyes 
of  all  wait  upon  Thee.'  * 


II 

We  may  notice  the  following  characteristics  of  this 
petition  : — 

(i)  Its  unworldliness.  We  approach  God  as  One  Who 
knows  our  necessities  before  we  ask ;  to  Whom  all  our 
secret  fears,  hopes,  anxieties,  griefs,  lie  open.  We  are 
encouraged  to  yield  ourselves  up  without  misgiving  to  the 
care  and  guidance  of  One  Who  careth  for  us.  ^     '  We  ought 

1  Arist.,  Pol.  i.  2,  8  ;    iii.  6,  3,  4,  lays  this   down  as  an  axiom. 

2  I   John  V.  II.  3  John  vi.  57;    v.  26. 
*  de  Spiritu  sancto,  v.,   §  7.  ^  1  Pet.  v.  7. 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    143 

not,'  says  Cyprian,  '  to  extend  our  desires  too  far.'  We 
need  not  ask  '  to  see  the  distant  scene,'  We  are  taught 
to  be  content  with  little,  so  long  as  it  be  sufficient :  '  bread 
for  the  coming  day  '  ;  and  thus  the  petition  seems  to  rebuke 
all  inordinate  anxiety  about  the  future,  all  excessive  shrink- 
ing from  poverty  or  hardship.  It  falls  in  with  our  Lord's 
teaching  in  Matthew  vi.  34,  and  with  His  warning  that 
care  is  not  only  a  heathenish  thing  in  itself — After  all  these 
things  do  the  Gentiles  seek — but  a  dangerous  foe  to  character, 
Christ  regards  care  as  an  outrage  done  to  God,  as  a  practical 
denial  of  His  Fatherhood.  He  implies  that  '  a  man  is  not 
really  free,  strong  and  invincible  until  he  has  put  aside 
all  his  cares  and  cast  them  upon  God.'  ^  We  are  reminded, 
too,  of  His  temptation,  and  of  the  Scripture  with  which 
He  foiled  the  tempter,  Man  shall  not  live  hy  bread  alone, 
hut  hy  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God — 
words  which  in  their  original  context  (Deut.  viii.  3)  embody 
the  lesson  which  Israel  was  intended  to  learn  from  the 
discipline  of  the  wilderness,  namely,  that  those  who  are 
called  to  fulfil  a  spiritual  mission  to  mankind  must  learn 
to  rely,  not  on  earthly  and  material  resources,  but  on  God 
alone.  Again,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  note  the  connexion 
between  the  '  daily  bread  '  of  this  petition  and  the  gift 
of  the  manna,  which  was  to  be  gathered,  a  day's  portion 
every  day,^  and  which  the  Saviour  contrasts  with  the  true 
bread  out  of  heaven.  We  learn  to  seek  from  God  Himself 
the  supply  of  every  need,  whether  of  body  or  spirit,  but 
especially  to  look  to  Him  for  the  Bread  of  life  without  which 


^  A.  Harnack,  What  is  Chvistianity  [E.T.],  p.  86.  See  the  entire 
passage.  Dr.  Taylor,  Sayings,  etc.,  quotes  a  Rabbinic  comment 
on  Exod.  xvi.  4  :  '  Whosoever  has  what  to  eat  to-day,  and  says 
"  What  shall  I  eat  to-morrow  ?  "  lo,  such  an  one  is  lacking  in 
faith  ;  for  it  is  said,  That  I  may  prove  him  whether  he  will  walk  in 
My  law  or  not.'  -  Exod.  xvi.  4  ;    cp.  John  vi.  32. 


144      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

we  cannot  fulfil  His  will.^  Finally,  a  thought  which  may 
appease  earthly  anxiety  is  that  our  Lord  seems  ever  to  have 
taken  care  during  His  earthly  life  that  none  who  followed 
Him  should  be  in  actual  want  or  distress.  We  recall  His 
divine  compassion  for  the  hunger,  bodily  as  well  as  spiritual, 
of  the  multitudes  who  followed  Him  ;  and  of  the  prophetic 
promise,  often  so  strangely  fulfilled.  They  that  seek  the  Lord 
shall  want  no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good.^ 

(2)  Its  simplicity  :  mere  '  bread,'  or  '  necessary  food.'  ^ 
This  petition  seems  to  sanction  all  prayer  for  temporal 
blessings  of  every  kind  in  so  far  as  they  are  needful  to  render 
us  efficient  in  fulfilling  the  duties  to  which  we  are  called. 
It  teaches  us  to  consider  carefully  what  is  sufficient  in  view 
of  our  place  and  function  in  society,  and  to  be  content 
with  what  is  really  essential.  '  They  are  blessed  in  worldly 
respects,'  writes  Hooker,  '  that  have  wherewith  to  perform 
sufficiently  what  their  station  and  place  asketh,  though 
they  have  no  more.'  ^  We  ask  in  effect  for  all  that  will 
sustain  health  and  vigour  of  mind  and  body  ;  but  we  also 
learn  from  this  petition  the  wisdom  of  becoming  more  and 
more  independent  of  superfluities  and  luxuries,  and  of  looking 
to  God  Himself  as  the  true  and  only  source  of  well-being. 
/  have  learned,  St.  Paul  tells  the  Philippians  who  had 
contributed  to  his  support,  in  whatsoever  state  I  am  to  he 
content.  ...  In  all  things  have  I  learned  the  secret  both 
to  he  filled  and  to  he  hungry,  hoth  to  abound  and  to  be  in  want ; 

1  Cp.  Dante's  paraphrase,  Purgatorio,  xi.   13. 

'Da  oggi  a  noi  la  cotidiana  manna, 

Senza  la  qual  per  questo  aspro  diserto. 
A  retro  va  chi  piu  di  gir  s'affanna.' 

2  Ps.  xxxiv,  10  ;    cp.  xxxvii.  25,  and  Isa.  xxxiii.  16. 

3  The  word  is  perhaps  used  generally,  meaning  '  food,'  in  Mark 
vii.  27  and  elsewhere. 

*  Eccl.  Pol.  V.  76,  5.  Cp.  vii.  24,  18.  Augustine  writes  to 
much  the  same  effect  in  ep.  cxxx.  ad  Probam,  xii,  and  specially 
refers  to  i  Tim.  vi.  6. 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    145 

and  the  reason  of  this  freedom  from  bondage  to  bodily 
necessities  is  that  he  is  Christ's  and  possesses  Christ :  / 
can  do  all  things  in  Him  that  strengtheneth  me.'^ 

This  petition,  then,  impHes  the  duty  of  aiming  at  sim- 
plicity in  the  scale  and  standard  of  living,  and  of  being 
satisfied  with  what  is  necessary  for  the  work  of  life.  How 
much  mental  disquiet  and  dissatisfaction  would  disappear 
if  all  had  learned  that  independence  of  external  circum- 
stances which  was  the  '  secret '  of  St.  Paul's  spiritual  power. 
Certainly,  in  view  of  our  present  social  conditions,  there  is 
great  force  in  the  remark  of  a  thoughtful  writer  on  Ethics 
that  it  is  '  a  clear  duty  on  the  part  of  every  one  who  is 
convinced  that  the  share  of  good  things  enjoyed  by  the 
few  is  disproportionate  and  unjust,  to  seek  to  limit  his  own 
personal  expenditure,  wherever  he  can  do  so  without  a 
less  efficient  discharge  of  his  own  social  function.'  ^  Much 
of  our  expenditure  is  apt  to  be  purely  conventional,  bringing 
us  no  adequ-ate  return  either  in  usefulness  or  happiness  ; 
and  when  we  consider  the  terrible  inequality  that  exists  in 
the  present  distribution  of  wealth  and  of  leisure,  we  shall 
be  ashamed  to  surround  ourselves  with  such  superfluous 
luxuries  and  comforts  as  tend  to  harden  our  hearts,  or 
deafen  our  ears,  to  the  cry  of  the  poor. 

The  petition  for  daily  bread,  and  no  more,  suggests  also 
the  desirability  of  being,  so  far  as  possible,  independent 
even  of  those  spiritual  helps  on  which  we  are  apt  to  lean 
too  heavily.  We  have  to  learn  by  experience  that  no 
created  thing  can  permanently  satisfy  a  nature  that  is 
created  for  friendship  and  converse  with  God  Himself.  To 
be  wholly  or  in  part  deprived  by  circumstances  of  external 
aids  and  accessories  to  devotion  is  a  blessing  if  it  throws 

1  Phil.  iv.  11-13.     Cp.  Cyp.  de  orat.    Dom.,  xxi.  15:    '  Cum  Dei 
sint  omnia,  habenti  Deum  nihil  deerit,  si  Deo  ipse  non  desit.' 
*  RashdaU,  The  Theory  of  Good  and  Evil,  vol.  i.,  p.  272. 

L 


146      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

the  soul  more  completely  on  God  ;  if  it  teaches  it  to  realize 
everyv\'here  His  nearness,  and  to  find  in  every  spot  of  earth 
a  sanctuary  of  His  presence.  This  is  a  point  that  some 
people,  who  are  perhaps  unduly  dependent  on  external 
aids  to  devotion,  need  honestly  to  consider.  For  experience 
teaches  us  that  the  multiplication  of  such  aids  sometimes 
chokes  the  spirit  of  prayer  ;  that  form  and  system  in  devo- 
tion need  to  be  carefully  guarded  lest  they  gradually  make 
worship  itself  barren  or  mechanical,  lest  they  overcloud 
the  joy  and  spontaneity  of  what  should  be  a  filial  service. 
True  simplicity  is  the  habit  of  mind  which  strives  to  use 
profitably  all  outward  things  that  minister  to  devotion, 
but  withal  learns  to  pass  through  them  upwards  and 
onwards  to  God,  using  them  as 

'  blessed  means  to  holiest  ends, 
Not  masters  but  benignant  friends.'  i 

Simplicity  is  the  spirit  which  prizes  and  reverences  the 
wholesome  ordinances  of  the  Church,  but  does  not  unduly 
exalt  them  ;  which  finds  in  God  Himself  the  satisfaction 
of  every  spiritual  need,  and  in  the  accomplishment  of  His 
will,  its  sole  object  of  desire. 

(3)  Its  unselfishness.  We  ask  for  '  our  daily  bread,'  thus 
including  in  our  prayer  all  who  have  to  struggle  for  the 
necessaries  of  life,  all  who  have  to  work  hard  for  a  livelihood, 
all  who  are  exhausted  or  overpressed  by  bodily  toU,  all  who 
are  destitute  and  in  bitter  poverty.  The  spirit  of  the 
petition  is  that  of  a  prayer  contained  in  an  ancient  liturgy, 
'  Bless  the  crown  of  the  year  with  Thy  goodness  for  the 
sake  of  the  poor  of  Thy  people,  for  the  sake  of  the  widow 
and  the  orphan  and  the  stranger  and  the  sojourner,  and 
for  the  sake  of  all  who  hope  in  Thee  and  supplicate  Thy 

1  Whittier,  The  Meeting. 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    147 

holy  Name  ;  for  the  eyes  of  all  wait  upon  Thee,  O  Lord.'  ^ 
Nor  can  we  rightly  overlook  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  teem- 
ing multitudes  in  our  great  towns,  or  of  those  in  our  colonies 
who  are  far  removed,  not  only  from  the  means  of  grace, 
but  from  the  wholesome  pressure  and  support  of  civilized 
society.     Again,  we  should  remember  those  who  are  engaged 
in  missionary  work  among  the  heathen,  and  who  are  exposed 
to  the  subtle  perils  of  spiritual  isolation,  of  moral  degenera- 
tion, of  paralysing  despondency.     '  Here   is   the  real  trial 
of  missionary  life,'  writes  one  who  has  laboured  long  and 
faithfully  in  Africa,  '  that  we  are  so  few,  so  weak,  so  faulty, 
so  busy,  so  worn-out ;   that  we  can  do  so  little  ;   that  we 
must  stand  face  to  face  with  a  starving  multitude,  and  can 
give  so  little  to  so  few.     God  help  us  and  them  !  '  ^     Often, 
indeed,  from  sheer  lack  of  imagination,  we  fail  to  realize 
the  needs  of  workers  in  the  foreign  mission-field  :  the  trials 
of  climate,  the  daily  discomforts  and  hardships  of  travel, 
the  moral  perils  of  work  in  isolated  places,  the  crushing 
apathy  of   the  heathen — their  depravity  and  cruelty,  their 
pride  and  hardness  of  heart.     '  From  what  I  suffer  in  this 
city,'  wrote  Henry  Martyn  from  Shiraz  (Feb.  1812),  '  I  can 
understand  the  feelings  of  Lot.  .  .  ,     Such  a  painful  year 
I  never  passed,  owing  to  the  privations  I  have  been  called 
to  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  spectacle  before  me  of  human 
depravity  on  the  other.     But  I  hope  I  have  not  come  to 
this  seat  of  Satan  in  vain.'     We  ask,  then,  when  we  pray 
for  '  our  daily  bread,'  that  all    the  far-reaching  needs  of 
toilers  in  God's  vineyard,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  may 
be    supplied ;    that  they    may  be    supported,  protected, 
guided  ;  that  they  may  be  blessed  with  health  and  vigour 
for  their  work ;   that  they  may  withstand  the  temptations 


1  From  the  Lit.  of  the  Coptic  Jacobites  in  Brightman,  Liturgies 
Eastern  and  Western,  p.  167.  *  Bishop  Alan  Gibson. 


148      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

that  beset  them  ;  that  they  may  be  successful  in  labour, 
fervent  in  spirit,  rejoicing  in  hope,  patient  in  tribulation, 
persevering  in  prayer.  We  ask  for  them,  as  for  ourselves, 
the  daily  bread  of  divine  grace  and  help  ;  confiding  in 
God's  power  to  fulfil  every  need,  according  to  His  riches  in 
glory  in  Christ  Jesus.^ 

The  petition  is  unselfish  ;  it  therefore  excludes  all  unlawful 
means  of  obtaining  daily  bread.  '  Do  Thou  give  me  my 
bread  '  is  Gregory  of  Nyssa's  paraphrase  ;  '  that  is,  may 
I  obtain  my  sustenance  as  the  fruit  of  lawful  toil,'  ^  The 
bread  for  which  we  ask  is  the  reward  of  honest  work  ;  not 
the  bread  of  deceit  acquired  by  gambling,  by  fraudulent 
work,  or  commercial  trickery ;  not  the  bread  of  idleness, 
provided  by  the  unrequited  and  unregarded  labour  of  other 
men  ;  not  the  bread  of  wickedness,^  earned  by  shameful 
courses,  by  the  ruin  of  other  lives,  or  by  ministering  to  the 
vices  and  follies  of  a  corrupt  Society ;  but  bread  of  God's 
providing — proportioned  to  our  need,  dependent  on  our 
own  efforts,  and  sufficient  to  enable  us  for  the  fulfilment 
of  our  vocation.  Indeed,  we  may  regard  the  petition  in 
its  widest  aspect  as  a  prayer  for  deliverance  from  the  charac- 
teristic sins  of  an  industrial  people  :  a  prayer  for  honesty 
in  trade  and  business,  for  right  relations  between  capital 
and  labour,  and  for  the  due  recognition  on  all  sides  of  the 
great  principles  of  social  justice,  social  service  and  social 
responsibility.*  Our  request  for  daily  bread  is  emptied  of 
meaning  if  we  needlessly  accumulate  luxuries,  if  we  heap 
up  riches  for  ourselves,  if,  in  a  word,  we  ignore  the  claim 
of  God  on  our  devotion,  or  that  of  human  society  on  our 
labour  and  service. 

1  Rom.  xii.  ii,  12  ;    Phil.  iv.  19.  2  ^^  Qyat.  iii.  748  D. 

3  See  Prov.  xx.  17  ;    xxxi.  27  ;    iv.  17. 

*  See  The  Social  Teaching  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  by  the  late  Bp. 
C.  W.  Stubbs  (of  Truro),  esp.  Serm.  III. 


'GIVE  US  THIS   DAY   OUR   DAILY   BREAD'    149 

(4)  Its  spirituality.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
primary  reference  of  the  words  '  daily  bread,'  as  used  by 
our  Lord,  was  to  bodily  needs.  But  He  Himself  taught  us 
that  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  multitude  of  the  things 
which  he  possesseth,  and  He  revealed  Himself  to  man  as 
the  Bread  of  God  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven.  ^  Naturally, 
therefore,  from  the  earliest  times  Christian  writers  have 
seen  in  this  petition  a  reference  to  the  sacred  food  of  the 
Eucharist :  the  meat  which  ahideth  unto  eternal  life ; 
which  giveth  life  unto  the  world.  '  Christ  is  our  Bread,' 
says  Tertullian,  '  because  Christ  is  life,  and  bread  is  life,'  2 
Cyprian  clearly  regards  the  petition  as  implying  the 
practice  of  daily  communion,  through  which  the  believer 
realizes  his  vital  union  with  Christ's  Body,  the  Church. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem  says  :  '  This  bread  goeth  not  into  the 
belly,  but  is  distributed  throughout  your  whole  being 
for  the  benefit  both  of  body  and  soul '  ;  he  adds  that 
'  this  day '  implies  reception  of  the  sacred  food,  '  every 
day.'  Jerome,  again,  in  revising  the  Old  Latin  version  of 
Matthew  vi.,  substituted  the  word  supersuhstantialem  for 
quotidianum — meaning,  probably,  '  spiritual  bread,'  that 
which  transcends  all  material  and  created  substances.  ^ 
Once  more,  Calvin,  while  rejecting  the  Latin  rendering 
supersuhstantialem  as  '  absurd,'  points  out  that  since 
Almighty  God  deigns  to  provide  for  the  nourishment  of  our 
bodies,  it  is  manifest  that  He  is  much  more  concerned  for 
the  life  of  our  souls. 

It  seems  clear,  then,  that  the  common  instinct  of  Chris- 

1  Luke  xii.  15  ;    John  vi.  33.     See  also  vi.  27. 

2  Tert.  de  ovat.  vi.;  cp.  Cyp.  de  or.  Dom.  xviii ;  Origen,  de  orat., 
xxvii.  9 ;  Cyr.  Hieros.,  cat.  myst.  v.  15  ;    Pet.  Chrys.,  i.-iv. 

3  Jerome  regards  ewioiffLos  as  equivalent  to  irepioiffios,  which  he 
trdioslaXespraecipuus  ox  egregius.  He  adds  :  '  Quando  ergo  petimus 
ut  peculiarem  vel  praecipuum  nobis  Deus  tribuat  panem.  Ilium 
petimus  qui  dicit  Ego  sum  panis  vivus  qui  de  caelo  descendi.' 


150      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

tians  has  interpreted  the  '  daily  bread  '  of  this  petition 
as  at  least  including  the  divine  food  of  the  Eucharist. 
A  curious  exception  is  the  paraphrase  contained  in  the 
Lutheran  Catechism.  '  Daily  bread  '  is  there  explained  to 
mean  '  everything  necessary  to  the  support  and  comfort  of 
existence  ;  as  food  and  raiment,  house  and  land,  money 
and  goods  :  a  kind  spouse,  good  children,  faithful  servants, 
righteous  magistrates,  good  weather,  peace,  health,  honour, 
true  friends,  good  neighbours,  and  the  like  ' — certainly  a 
very  '  unspiritual  catalogue  of  the  conveniences  of  life.'  ^ 
But  the  explanation  of  '  daily  bread  '  in  the  English  cate- 
chism, *  All  things  needful  both  for  our  souls  and  bodies,' 
agrees  with  that  of  most  commentators.  To  give  two  in- 
stances :  '  We  ask  such  bread  as  is  apt  and  meet  for  our 
sustenance  ;  that  is,  not  only  earthly,  but  heavenly  bread, 
because  we  consist  not  only  of  a  terrestrial  but  also  of  a 
celestial  substance  :  so,  then,  our  desire  is,  that  God  would 
give  us  not  only  panem  jumentorum  but  panem  angelorum  ; 
and  our  suit  is,  as  well  for  pants  caeli,  as  for  earthly  bread.' ^ 
Bishop  Nicholson  (j  1671)  explains  daily  bread  as  signify- 
ing '  Christ  and  His  benefits,  represented,  sealed  and  ex- 
hibited to  us  in  the  Sacrament.  This,'  he  adds, '  we  are 
to  desire,  this  to  entreat  God  to  give.' 

It  is,  then,  the  Bread  of  Life  for  which,  above  all  other 
gifts,  we  ask  in  this  petition  ;  nor  can  we  wonder  that  the 
very  words  '  daily  bread  '  were  regarded  by  some  Christian 
writers  as  giving  sanction  and  encouragement  to  the  habit 
of    communicating    daily.  ^     This    point    cannot    suitably 

1  Luther's  paraphrase  is  quoted  with  this  comment  by  Bp.  Knox, 
Pastors  and  Teachers,  p.  86. 

2  Sermons  on  Prayer  attributed  to  Bp.  Andrewes  and  included 
in  his  works,  Serm.  xiii.  See  also  Bp.  W.  Nicholson,  Exposition 
of  the  Catechism  [Oxford,  1849]. 

3  The  daily  Eucharist  was  not  a  primitive  custom.  '  While 
the  custom  of  daily  Eucharists  was  neither  universal,  nor  perhaps 


'GIVE  US  THIS   DAY   OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    151 

be  discussed  here.  The  form  of  the  petition  rather 
invites  us  to  dwell  on  the  fact  that  the  gift  received  in 
the  Eucharist  is  bestowed  by  a  Father's  hand  ;  is  the  token 
of  His  love  and  the  pledge  of  His  willingness  to  sustain 
with  the  heavenly  food  those  whom  He  makes  partakers 
of  a  heavenly  calling.'^ 

The  words  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  regarded  thus 
as  referring  to  the  Eucharist,  suggest  that  the  most  simple 
thoughts  about  that  divine  and  life-giving  mystery  are 
the  deepest  and  truest.  The  Eucharist  is  infinitely  precious 
because  it  is  the  Father's  gift.  My  Father  giveth  you  the 
true  bread  from  heaven.  In  all  ages  the  worship  of  the 
Church  in  the  Eucharistic  service  has  been  directed  to 
the  Father  Who  gave  His  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world.^ 
None  of  His  gifts  is  superfluous  ;  none  can  be  neglected 
without  infinite  loss.  Each,  and  this  above  all,  is  bestowed 
in  order  to  lead  us  onwards  in  that  life  of  filial  intimacy 
with  God  which  finds  its  perfect  utterance  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  we  do  not  use  this  petition 
in  the  fullness  of  its  meaning  if  we  either  neglect  to  receive 
simply  that  which  the  Father  simply  gives,  or  if  we  fail 
to  bear  in  mind  the  spiritual  needs  of  others.  For  as  the 
Eucharistic  Feast  is  the  outward  sign  and  vehicle  of  a 
heavenly  gift,  so  it  is  the  means  whereby  we  enter  into 
fellowship  one  with  another  ;  it  is  the  symbol  of  unity 
the  sacrament  of  fraternity,  ^  as  well  as  the  food  of  immor- 
tality. Both  these  aspects  of  the  Eucharist  are  nobly 
expressed  in  the  liturgy  of  Sarapion  :  '  Be  reconciled  to 
all  of  us  and  be  merciful,  0  God  of  truth  ;  and  as  this  bread 

earlier  than  the  third  century — it  arose  partly  out  of  Christian  devo- 
tion, partly  out  of  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  "  daily  bread," 
— the  weekly  Eucharist  was  both  primitive  and  universal.' — Turner, 
in  Camb.  Medieval  History,  vol.  i.,  ch.  6,  p.  158.  See  also  Freeman, 
Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  i.  186-193. 

1  Heb.  iii.  i.         *  John  vi.  32  ;    iv.  42.  ^   i  Cor.  x.  16. 


152      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

had  been  scattered  on  the  top  of  the  mountains  and  gathered 
together  came  to  be  one,  so  also  gather  together  Thy  holy 
Church  out  of  every  nation,  and  every  country,  and  every 
city  and  village  and  house,  and  make  one  living  catholic 
Church.'  1 

But  it  is  not  only  in  the  sacrament  of  love  that  the  life- 
giving  presence  of  Christ  is  imparted  to  man  as  the  food 
of  the  soul.  The  Word  of  God  contained  in  Holy  Scripture, 
and  daily  recited  or  expounded  in  the  church,  is  our  daily 
bread.  From  the  very  earliest  times,  as  may  be  gathered 
from  Justin  Martyr's  description  of  the  Eucharistic  Service 
in  his  first  Apology,  the  reading  of  Scripture  has  been  a 
constant  and  invariable  feature  of  Christian  worship.  We 
feed  on  Christ  both  in  the  reception  of  the  Eucharist  and 
in  the  hearing  or  reading  of  the  word.^  In  Scripture  He 
Who  is  tJie  Wisdom  of  God  visits,  illuminates  and  nourishes 
the  soul.  '  Our  daily  food  here  below  is  the  Word  of  God 
which  is  always  imparted  in  the  churches.'  '  The  lessons 
which  you  daily  hear  in  church  are  daily  bread  ' — so  Augus- 
tine repeatedly  assures  his  catechumens.^  There  is,  indeed, 
nothing  which  tends  more  powerfully  to  keep  alive  in 
our  hearts  the  love  of  God  than  devout  meditation  on  His 
word.  For  in  Scripture  Christ  is  present,  manifesting 
Himself  to  each  soul  according  to  its  capacity  ;  guiding 
and  enlightening,  purifying  and  healing  it,  according  to 
its  need.* 

i  Bishop  Sarapion's  Prayer  Book,  translated  and  edited  by  Bp. 
Wordsworth,  p.  62  [S.P.C.K.,  1899].  The  earlier  form  in  the 
Didache,  ix.,  is  closely  similar. 

2  See  Freeman,  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  i.,  pp.  348-350  ; 
Bp.  Gore,  The  Body  of  Christ,  p.  291. 

^  Aug.,  serm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  de  orat.  Dom.  Ivi.,  10  ;  cp.  Ivii.  7,  Iviii. 
5,  lix.  6. 

*  Henri  Perreyve,  Meditations  sur  les  ss.  ordres,  p.  27  :  '  Votre 
Ecriture  sainte  est  une  autre  Eucharistie  ;  vous  etes  vivant,  present 
dans  les  pages  sacrees,  dans  chacune  des  paroles  de  vos  Ecritures, 
comme  au  Tabernacle,' 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR    DAILY  BREAD'    153 

III 

Christus  Panis  nosfer — this  is,  in  fact,  the  sum  of  what 
is  asked  in  the  prayer  Give  us  our  daily  bread.  The  end  of 
all  spiritual  discipline,  the  object  of  all  sacred  ordinances, 
the  crowning  element  in  the  spirit  of  prayer  is  dependence 
upon  God  Himself  as  the  Source  of  all  good  and  the  response 
to  every  desire  of  the  human  heart.  The  petition  is  the 
only  one  that  asks  for  a  definite  gift — Give  us.  But  we 
know  that  there  is  only  one  gift  that  can  satisfy  the  yearn- 
ings of  a  being  made  in  the  image  of  God  ;  hence  we  can 
but  echo  the  prayer  of  saints  : — • 

'Non  quaero  datum  Tuum,  sed  Te.' 

'  In  Te  habeamus  omnia  quern  elegimus  super  omnia.'  ^ 

In  some  sense  '  poverty  '  is  a  state  enjoined  upon  all  Chris- 
tian people  ;  ^  poverty,  at  least,  in  the  sense  of  dependence 
for  happiness  and  well-being  on  no  created  thing.  So 
Augustine  observes  that  in  this  petition  '  you  acknowledge 
yourself  to  be  God's  beggar  {mendicum  Dei)  ;  but  be  not 
ashamed  ;  however  large  be  a  man's  earthly  riches,  he  is 
nevertheless  mendicus  Dei.'  ^  The  New  Testament  not 
only  dwells  repeatedly  on  the  thought  of  God's  infinite 
power,  as  One  Who  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think.  It  suggests  also  for  our  consolation 
the  truth  that  He  is  infinitely  rich.  It  speaks  of  the  '  riches  ' 
of  His  grace  and  of  His  glory,  the  riches  of  His  goodness  and 
forbearance  and  long-suffering,  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.     He  is  able   freely  to  bestow  whatever  the  spirit 

1  De  imit.  Christi,  iv.  8,  i  ;  and  part  of  a  prayer  (adapted)  from 
the  '  Leonine     Sacramentary,'    in    Duchesne,    Christian    Worship, 

P-  425- 

^  Erasmus,  Enchiridion  mil.  Christ.,  47  C  :  '  Tu  credebas  soUs 
monachis  interdictam  esse  proprietatem,  indictam  paupertatem. 
Errasti ;  utrumque  ad  omnes  Christianos  pertinet.'  See  the  Note 
at  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

'■^  Aug.,  serm.  in  Matt,  vi.,  Ivi.  9. 


154      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

of  man  needs  for  its  sustenance  and  healing  :    all  things 
that  pertain  unto  life  and  godliness} 

These  are  truths  of  faith  and  of  spiritual  experience  by 
which  we  are  encouraged  to  follow  our  Lord  Himself  in  that 
life  of  royal  independence  which  belongs  to  the  soul  which  is 
wholly  devoted  to  the  Father,  looks  to  Him  for  the  supply 
of  every  need,  yields  itself  up  to  be  guided  by  His  Spirit, 
nourished  by  His  word,  upheld  by  His  power,  gladdened 
by  the  perpetual  light  of  His  countenance.  All  that  happens 
to  a  believing  Christian — joy  or  sorrow,  adversity  or  pros- 
perity, success  or  failure — has  this  as  its  end  and  purpose 
— that  he  may  find  in  God  alone  the  strength  of  his  heart 
and  his  portion  for  ever.^ 

'  Ecce  Deus  meus  et  omnia.     Quid  volo  amplius  et  quid  felicius 
desiderare  possum  ?     Deug  meug  et  omnia.'  ^ 

It  is  with  this  faith  in  God  as  the  all-sufficient  Source 
of  grace,  as  the  Giver  of  all  that  is  needed  for  a  worthy 
human  life,  that  the  Christian  Church  confronts  the  practical 
materialism  which  tends  to  be  the  sole  creed  of  the 
modern  world.  Materialism  is  the  habit  of  mind  which, 
for  the  regeneration  of  humanity,  for  the  solution  of  moral 
and  social  problems,  looks  to  external  agencies  :  to  a  more 
scientific  hygiene,  to  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  wealth, 
to  a  heightened  standard  of  bodily  comfort ;  in  a  word, 
to  a  drastic  change  in  man's  physical  environment.  A 
believer  in  God,  as  He  has  revealed  Himself  in  Jesus  Christ, 
has  learned  that,  apart  from  the  action  of  divine  grace 
and  the  regeneration  of  human  nature  from  above,  all  im- 
provement of  the  material  conditions  of  life  is  vain.  The 
petition  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread  is  a  prayer  that 
the  Father  of  all  will  not  forsake  the  nature  that  He  has 
created  for  Himself,  nor  leave  it  destitute  of  His  grace  and 

^  Rom.  ii.  4  ;   Eph.  i.  7,  18  ;    iii.  8  ;    2  Pet.  i.  3. 
'     ^  Ps.  Ixxiii.  26.  3  Dq  imit.  Christi,  iii.  34. 


'GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD'    155 

help  ;  that  by  His  own  heavenly  gift  He  will  enable  it  to 
respond  to  the  purpose  of  His  love  ;  so  manifesting  Himself 
as  the  giver  of  that  meat  in  the  strength  of  which  His 
children  may  attain  to  the  Mount  of  God — to  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  them  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.^ 

NOTE. 

The  following  comment  on  this  clause  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
is  of  exceptional  interest.  The  author,  Swami  Ram  Tirath, 
was  originally  a  Brahman,  of  Lahore  ;  he  was  educated  at  the 
Forman  Christian  College  and  had  a  very  distinguished  Univer- 
sity career.  '  His  heart,  however,  was  whoUy  given  to  religion, 
and  he  left  college  work  to  become  a  wandering  monk  and 
preacher.  He  went  into  the  wildest  regions  of  the  Himalayas, 
where  he  lived  alone  with  Nature.'  ^ 

'  In  the  Lord's  Prayer  we  say,  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread  "  ;  and  in  another  place  we  say,  "  Man  shall  not  live 
by  bread  alone."  Reconsider  these  statements  :  understand 
them  thoroughly.  The  meaning  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  not  that 
you  should  be  craving,  wishing — not  at  all.  The  meaning  of 
that  Prayer  is  such,  that  even  a  king,  an  emperor,  who  is  in  no 
danger  of  not  having  his  daily  bread,  may  offer  it.  If  so,  evi- 
dently "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread  "  does  not  mean  that 
we  should  put  ourselves  in  a  begging  mood,  that  we  should  ask 
for  material  prosperity  :  not  that.  The  Prayer  means  that 
everybody,  let  him  be  a  prince,  a  king,  a  monk,  is  to  look  upon 
all  these  things  around  him,  aU  the  wealth  and  plenty,  as  not 
his,  but  God's  ;  "  not  mine,  not  mine."  That  does  not  mean  beg- 
ging, but  renouncing,  giving  up  ;  renouncing  everything  unto 
God.  The  king,  while  he  is  offering  that  Prayer,  puts  himself 
into  that  mood  where  all  the  jewels  of  his  treasury,  all  the  riches 
in  his  house,  the  house  itself — all  these  he  renounces,  he  gives 
them  up,  he  disclaims  them.  He  is,  in  offering  this  prayer,  the 
monk  of  monks.  He  says,  "  This  is  God's  ;  this  table,  every- 
thing on  this  table  is  His,  not  mine.  I  do  not  possess  anything. 
Anything  that  comes  to  me  comes  from  my  Beloved  One."  ' 

1  I  Kings  xix.  8  ;    Matt.  xxv.  34. 

*  C.  F.  Andrews,  Renaissance  in  India,  p.  132.  I  owe  the  know- 
ledge of  this  passage  to  Father  Congreve,  S.S.J.E.,  and  am  grate- 
ful to  him  for  communicating  it  to  me. 


CHAPTER   IX 

'AND  FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS,  AS  WE  ALSO  HAVE 
FORGIVEN  OUR  DEBTORS '  (St.  Matthew) 

'  AND  FORGIVE  US  OUR  SINS  :  FOR  WE  OURSELVES 
ALSO  FORGIVE  EVERY  ONE  THAT  IS  INDEBTED 

TO  US '  (St.  Luke) 

'  De  remissione  peccatorum  sufficere  debet  sola  credulitas.  Quis  enim 
causas  aut  rationem  requirat,  ubi  indulgentia  Principis  est  ?  ' — Rufinus. 

'  Non  nisi  peccatis  homines  separantur  a  Deo,  quorum  in  hac  vita  non 
fit  nostra  virtute,  sed  divina  miseratione  purgatio  ;  per  indulgentiam 
Illius,  non  per  nostram  potentiam.' — Augustine. 


THERE  is  some  doubt  touching  the  original  form  of 
this  petition.  The  Old  Syriac  version  has  for  the 
present  tense  a  future,  '  we  shall  forgive.'  The  petition 
would  thus  be  a  prayer  for  forgiveness  followed  by  a  promise 
on  the  suppliant's  part.  Bishop  Chase  points  out  that 
this  finds  support  in  the  parable  of  the  unmerciful  servant 
(Matt,  xviii.  23  foil.),  Lord,  have  patience  with  me  and  I 
will  pay  thee  all.  Tertullian  also  says,  '  We  declare  in 
our  prayer  that  we  will  forgive  our  debtors  {debitoribus 
dimissuros) '  ^ ;  and  it  would  seem  that  in  Matthew  vi.  14  (cp. 
Luke  vi.  37),  our  Lord  speaks  of  divine  forgiveness  as  a 
blessing  which  in  the  first  instance  is  provisional,  and  which 
needs  to  be  continued  and  consummated  :    //  ye  forgive 

1  Tert.,  dc  pudicitia,  ii. 
156 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  157 

men  their  trespasses,  your  heavenly  Father  will  also  forgive 
you^ 

Again,  it  seems  probable  that  the  word  '  sins  '  (Luke)  is 
a  paraphrase  of  the  original  Aramaic  expression  '  debts/ 
which  might  easily  be  misunderstood  by  Gentile  readers.  2 
The  view  of  sin  which  the  Prayer  suggests  is  that  it  consists 
in  failure  to  discharge  obligations  which  a  man  owes,  or 
rather  perhaps,  failure  to  fulfil  the  relationship  in  which 
he  stands,  to  others.  Origen  refers  in  illustration  to  St. 
Paul's  precept.  Render  to  all  their  dues.  Owe  no  man  any- 
thing, save  to  love  one  another.^  We  are  debtors  unto  all 
men  ;  to  our  own  personality  in  its  entirety  ;  above  all 
to  Him  Who  made  us  and  Whose  we  are.  '  It  is  not  pos- 
sible,' Origen  says,  '  so  long  as  one  lives  not  to  be  at  every 
hour  of  day  or  night  a  debtor.'  Sin  consists  not  so  much 
in  a  positive  breach  of  some  particular  divine  command- 
ment as  in  the  omission  of  duty  ;  in  lack  of  love  ;  in  slack- 
ness of  will ;  in  failure  to  respond  to  the  just  claim  of  God, 
of  our  own  nature,  and  of  our  fellow-men. 

In  the  Lord's  Prayer  the  thought  of  spiritual,  follows 
that  of  bodily,  need.^  We  might,  indeed,  as  Calvin  points 
out,  have  supposed  that  the  petition  for  forgiveness  was 
the  first  thing  needful  since  we  cannot  expect  to  receive 

i  Bp.  Chase  suggests  that  possibly  the  Old  Latin  Version  had 
the  future,  dimittemus.  In  any  case  the  general  sense  is  clear.  We 
ask  for  forgiveness  as  those  who  either  have  forgiven  or  intend  to 
forgive  others.  The  principle  implied  is  one  which  commends 
itself  to  man's  natural  sense  of  justice.  See  Ecclus.  xxviii.  1-6. 
On  the  idea  of  forgiveness  as  something  conditional,  '  inchoate, 
provisional,  educational  '  and  liable  to  be  forfeited  or  reversed,  see 
Dr.  Moberly,  Atonement  and  Personality,  ch.  iii,  pp.  61  foil.  He 
goes  so  far  as  to  say,  '  As  there  is,  upon  earth,  no  consummated 
penitence,  so  neither  is  there  any  forgiveness  consummated.' 

2  Cp.  Plummeron  Luke  xi.  4  (Intemat.  Crit.  Comm,  p.  297). 

3  Orig.,  de  orat.  xxviii.  i  foil.     See  Rom.  xiii.  17. 

*  Cyp.,  de  or.  Dow.xxii:  'Post  subsidium  cibi  petitur  et  venia 
delicti,  ut  qui  a  Deo  pascitur,  in  Deo  vivat.' 


158      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

gifts  and  blessings  from  one  to  whom  we  are  not  already 
reconciled.  But  the  context  seems  to  suggest  that  the 
sins  for  which  we  ask  pardon  are  not  wilful,  presumptuous 
and  heinous  offences,  but  those  daily  faults  of  infirmity 
which  are  inevitable  in  this  life  :  wanderings  of  desire, 
sins  of  thought  and  imagination,  sins  of  the  eye,  the  ear 
or  the  tongue,  from  which  the  soul  needs  to  be  daily  cleansed 
by  penitential  prayer.^  The  Lord's  Prayer  is  the  prayer 
of  children,  abiding  in  their  Father's  love,  and  dreading 
even  the  lightest  shadow  that  may  obscure  the  sense  of 
His  presence  and  favour.  This  petition  is,  in  fact,  an 
acknowledgment  of  human  frailty  :  an  expression  of  self- 
distrust,  of  compunction,  of  sacred  fear. 

II 

This  petition  teaches  us  how  constant  is  our  need  of 
forgiveness.  It  rebukes  all  self-complacency ;  all  that 
shallow  optimism  which,  in  minimizing  the  fact  of  sin, 
tends  to  reject  the  very  idea  that  human  nature  needs 
redemption.  The  broad  contrast  between  the  traditional 
creed  of  Christendom  and  certain  tendencies  of  modern 
thought  is  perhaps  most  evident  in  relation  to  the  problem 
of  sin.  The  analogies  drawn  from  human  law  and  govern- 
ment have  given  way  to  those  suggested  by  the  study  of 
biology.  There  is  an  '  evolutionist '  view  of  sin,  which 
regards  it  even  as  a  necessary  condition  of  man's  moral 
and  intellectual  progress.     For  sin  implies  the  consciousness 

1  So  Augustine  repeatedly  insists  :  e.g.,  Enchir.  71  :  '  De  quoti- 
dianis  autem  brevibus,  levibusque  peccatis,  sine  quibus  haec  vita 
non  ducitur,  quotidiana  fidelium  oratio  satis  facit.  .  .  .  Delet 
omnino  haec  oratio  minima  et  quotidiana  peccata  '  ;  serm.  in  Matt, 
vi.,  Ivi.  II  :  '  Vivendo  contrahimus  quod  quotidie  dimittatur  '  ; 
and  in  12  he  speaks  of  the  '  quotidiana  mundatio  sanctae  orationis  '  ; 
serm.  ad  catechumenos ,  15  (referring  to  this  clause  of  the  Lord's 
prayer),  '  Semel  abluimur  baptismate,  quotidie  abluimur  oratione.' 


'FORGIVE  US   OUR   DEBTS'  159 

of  law,  which  marks  (we  are  told)  a  higher  stage  in  moral 
development  than  that  of  mere  innocence.  According  to 
this  view  sin  is  only  the  survival  of  animal  instincts  and 
anti-social  tendencies.  What  was  at  first  non-moral  becomes, 
in  virtue  of  its  survival,  immoral.  What  is  called  '  sin  ' 
is  generally  the  fruit  of  pardonable  ignorance,  or  of  a  self- 
regard  which  is  rather  short-sighted,  or  mistaken,  than 
culpable.  With  this  optimistic  estimate  of  sin  is  associated 
an  anthropomorphic  idea  of  God  as  indulgent  to  the  ignor- 
ance and  error  of  man,  rather  than  hostile  to  his  sinfulness. 
The  Christian  idea  of  the  wrath  of  God  revealed  from  heaven 
against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men  ^  is  set 
aside  as  a  relic  of  barbarism.  '  God  is  Father  rather  than 
Judge  ;  and  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  gives  a  truer 
and  more  Christian  view  of  His  attitude  to  the  human 
sinner  than  all  the  imposing  imagery  of  the  Great  Assize.'  2 
This  position  is  open  to  much  criticism.^  For  one  thing, 
it  seems  to  judge  of  sin  almost  exclusively  by  its  social 
effects.  If  sin  means  merely  selfishness,  it  is  a  fair  conclusion 
that  '  there  is  no  sin  except  offences  against  the  altruistic 
principle,'  '  Sin  against  God  is  sin  against  the  common  life,' 
etc.  Further,  this  view  of  sin  fails  utterly  to  do  justice 
to  the  spiritual  experience  of  man — to  the  fact  of  remorse, 
the  feeling  of  guilt,  the  presages  of  retribution,  the  agonizing 
sense  of  an  inner  contradiction  in  human  nature.  But  it 
will  be  more  in  accord  with  our  present  purpose  to  omit  any 
detailed  discussion  of  what  may  be  called  the  '  modernistic  ' 
view  of  sin.     Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  its  mistake  lies  in  its 

1  Rom.  i.  18. 

2  Mr.  W.  H.  Moberly  thus  describes  the  point  of  view  of  '  liberal ' 
thought,  before  passing  upon  it  some  thoughtful  criticisms,  Founda- 
tions, p.  278.  See  in  illustration,  The  Practice  of  Christianity, 
pp.  92  foil. 

3  See  asp.  Bp.  Gore,  The  New  Theology  and  the  Old  Religion, 
lect.  iv.,  '  The  Idea  of  Sin.' 


i6o      THE   RULE   OF  WORK   AND   WORSHIP 

one-sidedness.  It  overlooks  the  facts  of  life  which  sup- 
port and  justify  the  Scriptural  view  of  sin  as  a  move- 
ment of  lawlessness  or  rebellion  on  the  part  of  man's  will 
— a  movement  not  merely  appealing  to  the  pity,  but 
provoking  the  righteous  displeasure  of  Almighty  God. 

We  find  in  fact  that  two  different  conceptions  of  God's 
relationship  to  man  are  equally  prominent  in  Scripture, 
and  they  seem  to  be  plainly  implied  in  the  Lord's  Prayer 
itself  :  one,  in  the  very  language  which  describes  sin  under 
the  metaphor  of  '  a  debt,'  the  other,  in  the  title,  '  Father,' 
by  which  Christ  teaches  us  to  address  God.  On  the  one 
hand,  God  is  the  Judge  and  Moral  Ruler  of  the  universe  ; 
or  rather  He  is  the  living  embodiment  and  representative 
of  that  law  of  righteousness  which  annexes  to  sin  the  suffer- 
ing of  penalty,  i  Thus  '  Redemption  '  necessarily  implies 
a  twofold  deliverance,  (i)  from  the  displeasure  of  a  Holy 
Being  Whose  holiness  and  love  manifest  themselves  as 
'  wrath  '  in  the  retribution  that  overtakes  sin  ;  (2)  from 
the  sinful  habit  or  character  which  is  the  abiding  conse- 
quence of  wrong-doing.  On  the  other  hand,  God  is  revealed 
in  Christ  as  a  Father  of  infinite  wisdom  and  compassion, 
to  Whom  we  owe  not  only  fear  and  obedience,  but  filial 
love  and  submission.  We  are  indeed  children  of  God,  but 
the  petition  '  Forgive  us  our  debts  '  serves  to  remind  us 
that,  as  rational  creatures  we  stand  in  a  conscious  relation 
to  law  ;  though  we  are  the  objects  of  an  unfathomable 
mercy  we  are  also  amenable  to  an  exact  and  unerringyw^^- 

1  It  has  been  justly  pointed  out  that  the  truth  of  the  '  juristic  * 
view  of  man's  relation  to  God  lies  in  the  fact  that  '  Law  deals  with 
the  relations  of  persons  ;  while  Biology  blurs  what  Coleridge  calls 
"  The  sacred  distinction  between  things  and  persons."  Moral 
evil  .  .  .  belongs  to  "  will  "  rather  than  to  "  nature  "...  and 
physical  metaphors,  such  as  "disease"  and  "medicine,"  "the 
infection  of  sin  "  and  "  the  infusion  of  grace  "  are  largely  mislead- 
ing.'    See  Foundations,  p.  281. 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  i6i 

ment.  God  is  Father — the  object  of  our  trust  and  affection, 
but  also  Holy  Father,  moral  union  with  Whom  is  necessarily 
a  union  of  will.  The  sinner,  as  such,  cannot  be  acceptable 
to  a  Being  of  perfect  goodness  and  love  ;  he  must  submit 
himself  to  that  law  which  is  the  very  expression  of  God's 
character,  the  law  that  sin  shall  suffer.  Only  as  penitent 
can  he  find  acceptance.  His  will  must  be  changed  and 
renewed  ;  and  because  this  is  a  work  beyond  man's  own 
power,  he  is  taught  to  pray  Forgive  us  our  debts,  Forgive 
us  our  sins. 

Ill 

The  absence  of  the  sense  of  sin,  which  is  often  said  to 
be  a  common  feature  of  present-day  life  is  probably  due 
to  many  causes,  some  of  which  are  not  perhaps  wholly 
regrettable.^  But  the  fact  that  the  modern  man  '  is  not 
worrying  about  his  sins  at  all,  still  less  about  their  punish- 
ment,' if  true,  is  serious  in  so  far  as  it  implies  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  nature  and  scope  of  Christ's  religion.  For 
Christianity  is  meaningless  except  as  a  message  of  salva- 
tion. It  appeals  to  the  sense  of  spiritual  need,  of  moral 
impotence  ;  it  makes  repentance  and  conversion  the  very 
foundation  of  character  ;  its  promise  of  the  kingdom  is 
addressed  to  the  poor  in  spirit ;  it  aims  at  something 
infinitely  beyond  that  '  mediocrity  of  virtue '  in  which  we 
too  easily  acquiesce.  2     It  promises  the  transfiguration  of 

1  On  this  point  see  G.  A.  Coe,  The  Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind, 
ch.  xii.,  '  The  Consciousness  of  Sin  ' — a  very  suggestive  passage. 
Prof.  Coe  thinks  that  a  characteristic  feature  of  our  time  is  not  the 
blunting,  but  the  quickening  of  conscience  ;  not  the  decay  of  moraUty 
but  a  revival  of  the  sense  of  personal  and  corporate  responsibility. 

2  W.  E.  Channing,  in  a  discourse  on  'The  Christian  Ministry,' 
energetically  denies  '  that  Christianity  has  spent  all  its  energies 
in  producing  the  mediocrity  of  virtue  which  characterizes  Christen- 
dom.' 

M 


1 62      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

human  life  ;  it  looks  for  results  which  the  Gospel  describes 
as  great  things,  strange  things,  glorious  things.  But  these 
'  great  things  '  are  the  divine  response  to  great  desire  and 
a  deep  sense  of  spiritual  need.  Further,  the  transforming 
and  ennobling  power  of  Christian  faith  has  ever  been  most 
signally  manifested  in  those  who  have  most  keenly  realized 
their  imperfection,  their  moral  helplessness,  their  failures 
in  love.  It  is  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  their  con- 
sciousness of  sin  that  men  gain  a  hold  on  the  true  meaning 
and  scope  of  Christianity  ;  that  they  realize  its  power  as 
the  Religion  that  releases  the  soul  from  the  grasp  of  evil, 
from  the  bondage  of  nature,  above  aU,  from  that  temper  of 
self-satisfaction  which  is  the  one  fatal  obstacle  to  spiritual 
advance. 

Now  the  mere  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  if  we  enter  at 
all  into  its  spirit,  is  an  aid  towards  gaining  that  sense  of 
need  and  unworthiness  which  alone  makes  religion  a  power 
in  the  personal  life. 

But  other  aids  may  be  mentioned. 

(i)  The  experience  of  life  plays  a  great  part  in  teaching 
men  the  malignity  and  the  ruinous  issues  of  sin.  It  is  no 
doubt  sheer  lack  of  experience  that  prevents  the  young 
from  having,  as  a  rule,  any  deep-seated  sense  of  personal 
sinfulness.  It  is  only  as  they  grow  riper  in  age  and  know- 
ledge that  the  meaning  of  sin  comes  forcibly  home  to  them. 
They  see  for  themselves  instances  of  the  havoc  it  produces 
in  family  and  social  life  ;  the  defeat  or  failure  of  good 
causes  through  pitiable  poverty  of  character  or  fatal  lack 
of  self-control.  They  become  bitterly  conscious  of  an 
ignorance  or  spiritual  blindness,  in  themselves  or  in  others, 
which  they  know  to  be  the  fruit  of  some  early  unfaithfulness 
to  duty ;  a  difficulty  in  doing  right  which  is  the  result  of 
former  perversity  or  self-indulgence  ;  an  inability  to  endure 
strain,  or  to  work  with  others,  caused  by  habitual  evasion 


'FORGIVE  US   OUR  DEBTS'  163 

in  the  past  of  salutary  discipline.  Such  probably,  in 
some  measure  at  least,  has  been  the  experience  of  us  all ; 
and  it  has  taught  us  that  sin  is  no  light  or  transient  evil, 
no  mere  '  moral  mistake,'  pardonable  error  in  judgment, 
or  trivial '  relic  of  our  brute  ancestry  '  ;  but  a  debt  requiring 
remission,  an  offence  needing  pardon,  an  outrage  done  to 
a  law  of  righteousness  that  necessarily  exacts  penalty  and 
satisfaction. 

Or  we  watch  the  outcome  of  personal  sinfulness  in  national 
life  ;  we  see  plainly  how  social  disorders  are  ultimately 
traceable  to  the  greed  or  selfishness  or  callousness,  either 
of  individual  men,  or  of  the  classes  to  which  they  belong. 
Our  own  observation  confirms  the  teaching  of  Scripture. 
We  see  how  diseased  and  unstable  the  fabric  of  human 
civilization  becomes  apart  from  the  recognition  of  the  claim 
and  will  of  God.  The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole 
heart  faint.  From  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head  there 
is  no  soundness  in  it.^  We  learn  to  measure  the  real  signifi- 
cance of  sin  by  studying  its  effects  on  a  large  scale,  and  by 
realizing  in  the  school  of  experience  the  vanity  of  all  merely 
human  efforts  and  hopes.  It  is  actual  observation  of  the 
facts  of  life  that  brings  home  to  us  the  true  meaning  of 
that  which  the  Lamb  of  God  alone  can  take  away,  the  sin 
of  the  world  :  that  '  false  nature,'  that  perversion  of  a 
divinely  appointed  order,  that  idolatry  of  self,  which  lie 
at  the  root  of  human  degradation  and  wretchedness. ^ 

(2)  But  the  Lord's  Prayer  itself  suggests  that  the  sense 

1  Isa.  i.  5,  6. 

2  G.  A.  Coe,  op.  cit.,  p.  395  :  '  The  awfulness  of  sin  is  revealed, 
not  by  any  abstract  juridical  notions,  but  by  actual  observation 
of  life.  The  use  of  talents,  the  spending  of  our  means,  the  hunger 
and  nakedness  about  us,  the  sick  and  the  prisoners,  the  little  children 
— turn  upon  these  and  our  relations  to  them  the  strong  light  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  no  man's  conscience  can  escape  con- 
viction.' 


l64      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

of  sin  is  most  effectually  roused  by  recollection  of  the  relation- 
ship in  which  we  stand  to  od.  Such  is  the  lesson  taught 
by  the  parable  of  the  lost  son  (Luke  xv.).  God  is  our 
Father,  and  we  are  His  beloved  children.''-  He  pities  us  in 
our  solitariness,  our  ignorance,  our  frailty.  He  is  on  our 
side  in  the  conflict  with  evil.  His  heart  is  grieved  by  our 
ingratitude,  our  forgetfulness  of  Him,  our  blindness  to  our 
true  happiness.  When  we  seek  in  His  creatures  what  He 
alone  can  bestow.  He  yearns  for  our  return  into  the  paths 
of  peace.  To  Him  are  known  all  the  perils  and  difficulties 
of  our  course ;  He  bestows  the  presence  and  the  grace  of 
His  Spirit  to  guide  and  strengthen  us.  He  rejoices  in  our 
victories  ;  He  Himself  vouchsafes  to  be  our  exceeding  great 
reward.  It  is  the  thought  of  His  watchful  providence.  His 
unchanging  good-will  towards  man,  that  awakens  the  spiijit 
of  filial  contrition.  The  goodness  of  God  rather  than  His 
severity  leads  men  to  repentance.  ^  Thus  in  emphasizing 
the  personal  character  of  our  relation  to  God,  the  Gospel 
teaches  us  to  judge  of  sin  aright  as  a  lack  of  response  to  a 
Father's  purpose,  as  despite  done  to  a  Father's  love. 

At  this  point,  another  thought  suggests  itself.  Sin,  we 
say,  is  despite  done  to  God's  love,  and  where  is  that  love 
manifested  if  not  in  the  travail,  the  sufferings,  the  victory 
over  evil  of  the  Son  of  His  love  ?  There  is  no  hint  given  in 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  nor  in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal,  of 
the  mystery  of  mediation  and  atonement.  But  we  cannot 
isolate  either  passage  from  the  general  tenour  of  Christ's 
teaching.  The  familiar  words  of  St.  Paul  certainly  contain 
the  very  sum  and  substance  of  the  Gospel  message  :  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Beloved,  in  Whom  we  have  our  redemption  through 
His  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses.^    Nor  can 

1  Eph.  V.   I.  2  Rom.  ii.  4. 

3  Eph.  i.  7.  See  Dale,  The  Atonement,  lect.  3,  'The  Testimony 
of  Our  Lord.'     On  the  relation  in  which  our  Lord  stood  to  the  sins 


'  FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS '  165 

we  forget  that  our  Lord  taught  His  Prayer  to  disciples 
steeped  in  the  habits  of  thought  suggested  by  an  elaborate 
and  symbolic  system  of  atonement  for  sin  and  transgression. 
He  did  not  explicitly  set  aside  the  Jewish  ordinances,  He 
brought  into  prominence  those  spiritual  truths  which  the 
sacrificial  worship  was  designed  to  suggest  :  the  truth  that 
sin  could  only  be  expiated  by  the  shedding  of  blood,  that 
the  remission  of  guilt  required  the  sacrifice  of  a  sinless  life, 
that  man's  condition  is  one  of  perpetual  indebtedness  to 
God  :  in  other  words  that  moral  obhgation  is  virtually  infinite, 
that  forgiveness  is  a  free  movement  of  love  on  God's  part 
but  a  movement  conditional  on  faith,  penitence,  and  willing- 
ness to  deal  with  others  as  we  would  have  God  deal  with 
us.  It  is  in  the  light  of  these  truths  that  we  utter  the 
prayer  Forgive  us  our  trespasses.  In  the  single  word  '  Father, 
it  is  implied  that  whatever  needed  to  be  done  for  the  vindi- 
cation of  the  law  of  righteousness,  and  for  the  absolution 
of  the  sinner,  has  been  accomplished.  Moreover,  it  was 
in  the  culminating  moment  of  His  self-oblation  that  the 
Son  of  God  uttered  that  prevailing  prayer  for  the  forgive- 
ness of  the  sins  of  men,  through  which  alone  our  petition 
for  pardon  can  find  acceptance.^ 

(3)  Once  more,  if  we  would  see  sin  in  its  true  light  and 
judge  it  in  union  with  the  mind  of  God,  we  must  seek  the 
aid  of  the  Spirit  Whose  office  it  is  to  convict  the  world  in 
respect  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgement.  ^  It 
is  His  work  to  reveal  us  to  ourselves,  to  show  us  the  real 
character  and  issues  of  our  action,  to  enable  us  to  judge 
ourselves  according  to  truth.  The  unfathomed  depths  of 
human  personality  lie  open  to  Him,  and  while  He  stimulates 
and  enlightens  conscience  He  alone  can  allay  the  fears  and 

of  men,  see  The  Rule  of  Faith  and  Hope  (Lib.  of  Hist.  Theol.),  pp. 

39,  40- 

1  Luke  xxiii.  34  :     '  Father,  forgive  them.'  *  John  xvi.  8. 


i66      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

misgivings  which  spring  from  a  real  self-knowledge.  ^  Love 
and  peace  are  the  fruit  of  His  indwelling  :  love,  with  its 
quickened  sense  of  what  is  due  to  God  ;  peace,  rejoicing  in 
the  sense  of  His  fellowship.  In  dependence  on  the  Spirit 
of  truth,  the  soul  is  enabled  to  see  itself  as  it  is  in  God's 
sight  ;  to  realize  what  it  might  have  been  and  what  it  may 
yet  become,  through  the  power  of  His  grace. 

Again,  the  sense  of  sin  may  be  deepened  by  using  the 
teaching  of  the  Spirit  in  Scripture  as  a  standard  of  measure- 
ment. Our  Lord  in  the  Beatitudes,  St.  Paul  in  his  '  Psalm 
of  charity  '  (i  Cor.  xiii.)  or  in  his  description  of '  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  '  (Gal.  v.),  St.  Peter  in  his  sketch  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Christlike  character  (2  Pet.  i.),  St.  James  in 
the  picture  of  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  (James  iii.), — 
exhibit  to  us  a  positive  ideal  of  holiness.  When  we  com- 
pare our  lives  with  this  ideal,  we  seem  to  learn,  first,  that 
sin  consists  not  so  much  in  wrong  action,  as  in  the  mis- 
direction of  will  and  desire  ;  secondly,  that  the  standard 
to  be  aimed  at  is  progressive  and  transcendent  ;  that  in 
this  life  at  least  we  can  but  approximate  to  holiness  ;  that, 
consequently,  even  at  the  best,  we  are  but  unprofitable 
servants  ;  that  our  '  debt '  to  God  cannot  be  discharged, 
and  can  only  be  freely  remitted. 

IV 

The  petition  which  we  are  considering  implies  that  an 
essential  element  in  the  Christian  character  is  an  habitual 
and  continuous  penitence.  Daily  and  hourly  we  have 
need  to  confess  our  shortcomings  and  to  seek  forgiveness. 
However  carefully  we  conquer  habits  of  sin,  however  free 
we  may  be  from  wrong  propensities,  there  yet  remains  even 
in  the  regenerate  the  frailty  of  a  disordered  nature.  In 
many  things  we  offend,  all.  The  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
^  I   John  iii.  20. 


'FORGIVE  US   OUR  DEBTS'  167 

spirit,^  and  passionate  desire  even  when  kept  in  control 
'  hath  of  itself  the  nature  of  sin.'  Moreover,  our  negUgences 
and  ignorances  need  forgiveness.  Even  ignorance  is  guilty 
when,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  it  is  the  fruit  and  penalty  of 
past  transgression.  Even  actions  which  have  seemed 
praiseworthy  have  been  tainted  by  self-consciousness,  self- 
complacency,  the  desire  of  human  esteem.  Even  our 
repentances  are  marred  by  imperfection  and  need  to  be 
repented  of.  Even  the  Christian  who  is  far  advanced  in 
spiritual  experience  feels  himself  compelled,  like  Ignatius, 
to  cry,  '  Now  do  I  begin  to  be  a  disciple  !  '  ^ 

Another  reflection  suggested  by  the  form  of  the  petition 
'  Forgive  us  '  is  the  call  of  God  to  what  may  be  called 
corporate  penitence.^  In  the  sacrificial  system  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  provision  was  made  for  a  solemn  act  of  common 
and  public  repentance  on  the  day  of  Atonement.  A  special 
sacrifice  was  solemnly  offered  in  propitiation  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  nation.  The  high  priest  was  directed  to  make 
an  atonement  for  the  holy  place  because  of  the  uncleanness  of 
the  children  of  Israel  and  because  of  their  transgressions  in 
all  their  sins.  He  was  to  lay  upon  the  head  of  the  scape- 
goat all  the  iniquities  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  thus  to 
renew,  as  it  were,  that  covenant  relationship  between  Jeho- 
vah and  the  people  which  sin  had  interrupted.  *  So  in  all  ages 
of  history,  there  have  been  those  who  have  mourned  for 


1  James  ill.  2  ;    Gal.  v.  17.     Cp.  Article  IX. 

*  Ignat.,  ad  Rom.  5.  Cp.  ad  Eph.  1,3;  ad  Trail.  5  ;  ad  Magn. 
12  :    '  The  righteous  man  is  a  self-accuser.' 

3  Cp.  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.  v.  72,  14.  Hooker  refers  to  the  Com- 
mination  service  as  illustrating  his  point.  This  service,  in  the  Prayer 
Book  of  1552,  was  not  confined  to  Ash  Wednesday,  but  was  ordered 
to  be  used  '  divers  times  in  the  year.'  In  1576  Abp.  Grindal  directed 
his  clergy  to  use  it  three  times  at  least  in  the  year.  The  present 
rubric  orders  it  to  be  used  '  on  the  first  day  of  Lent  and  at  other 
times  as  the  Ordinary  shall  appoint.'  *  Lev.  xvi.  16,  21. 


i68      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

the  offences,  shortcomings  and  failures  of  their  Church  and 
nation  ;  those  of  whom  the  prophet  says  that  they  sigh  and 
cry  for  all  the  abominations  done  in  the  midst  thereof.^  Indeed, 
the  Old  Testament  constantly  refers  to  social  sins  and  social 
acts  of  repentance. 2  Repentance  means  the  spirit  of 
entire  antagonism  to  sin ;  it  means  an  act  of  '  turning  ' 
from  sin  to  God  ;  and  men  need,  not  only  as  individuals, 
but  as  members  of  a  church  and  nation,  to  repudiate  those 
false  standards  and  ideals,  those  corrupt  customs  and  evil 
traditions,  which  prevail  in  the  community,  and  are  mainly 
responsible  for  the  moral  disorders  and  social  iniquities  that 
infest  it.  *  There  must  be  real  social  contrition  ;  sorrow 
at  the  injustice  of  modern  conditions  of  life  and  labour  ; 
sorrow  at  the  misery  of  the  poor,  the  misery  of  the  rich, 
the  cramped,  starved,  stunted,  half -educated,  joyless, 
spiritless  lives  in  all  classes.'  ^  In  the  same  spirit  of  peni- 
tence we  should  lament  the  faithlessness  and  shortcomings 
of  the  Church.  We  should  mourn  for  the  disunion,  luke- 
warmness,  indifference  to  principle,  self-satisfaction,  and 
worldliness  of  temper  and  policy  which  neutralize  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Church  and  hinder  in  countless  ways  the  progress 
of  the  divine  kingdom. 

Thus  in  using  the  Lord's  Prayer  faithfully,  we  acknow- 
ledge our  indebtedness  to  all  men,  since  all  in  God's  sight 
are  brethren  and  bound  together  by  ties  of  mutual  obligation 
and  service.  We  confess  a  corporate  responsibility  and  a 
corporate  failure.  We  sorrow  for  all  those  social  arrange- 
ments, and  for  that  absence  of  a  righteous  public  opinion, 
which  are  responsible  for  the  oppression  or  exploitation 

1  Ezek.  ix.  4. 

2  See,  e.g.,  Ezra  ix.,  Neh.  ix.,  Dan.  ix.,  Isa.  lix.  ;  also  Jonah  iii.  5 
foil.,  Jer.  xviii.  7  foil. 

3  J.  G.  Adderley,  The  Creed  and  Real  Life,  p.  64.     See  also  the 
emarks  on  '  missionary  penitence  '  on  pp.   102  foil. 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  169 

of  individuals  and  classes. ^  We  ask  pardon  for  all  our 
known  and  unknown  failures  to  realize  the  law  of  love  ;  and 
we  implore  the  mercy  of  God  on  behalf  of  all  who  in  their 
dealings  with  others  forget  or  ignore  His  righteous  will. 

V 

Forgive  us  our  trespasses.     We  are  naturally  led  to  con- 
sider the  conditions,  and  the  effects,  of  divine  forgiveness. 

(i)  Of  repentance  something  has  been  already  said.  The 
gift  of  pardon  is  God's  response  to  a  real  change  of  mind 
or  heart,  which  involves  the  co-operation  of  every  element 
in  personality :  reason,  emotion,  will.  It  means  '  the 
entire  opposition  of  our  entire  selves  to  sin.'  ^  Here  we 
should  notice  that  the  whole  Lord's  Prayer  is  the  expression 
of  penitence  ;  for  penitence  implies  not  merely  the  forsaking 
of  sin  but  the  positive  '  turning  '  of  the  heart  towards  God.  ^ 
It  is  the  fruit  of  faith — faith  looking  to  God  alone  as  the 
source  of  blessedness,  as  the  Giver  of  all  that  the  soul  needs, 
as  the  Father  Whose  will  is  the  supreme  law  of  life.  Whose 
kingdom  is  the  one  worthy  object  of  endeavour.  The 
petition  for  forgiveness,  if  sincerely  uttered,  embodies  the 
very  spirit  of  penitence  :  the  humility  which  waits  upon 
God,  which  realizes  its  need  of  healing  and  pardon,  which 
yields  itself  up  to  the  fulfilment  and  acceptance  of  the 
divine  will.  Tertullian  points  out  that  the  petition  plainly 
proves  the  acceptableness  of  repentance,^  as  a  part  of  God's 
will  for  man,  and  as  the  outcome  of  reliance  upon  the  gracious 
promises  and  the  Fatherly  character  of  God.  Thus  the 
petitions  whichprecede  this  request  for  forgiveness  throw  light 

1  As  Augustine  reminds  us,  epist.  cxxx.  13  :  '  Nemo  est  in  genera 
humano  cui  non  dilectio,  et,  si  non  pro  mutua  caritate,  pro  ipsa 
tamen  communis  naturae  societate  debeatur.' 

2  Du  Bose,  The  Gospel  in  the  Gospels,  p.  148. 

3  Acts  XX.  21  :  '  Repentance  toward  God.'  Obs.  in  Luke  xxiv. 
45  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  go  together.         *  de  orat.  vii. 


I/O      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

upon  its  spirit  and  intention.  This  is  no  mere  expression 
of  desire  to  escape  punishment,  or  to  be  '  let  off '  our  debts. 
It  is  the  prayer  of  a  son,  whose  whole-hearted  desire  is  to 
live  and  to  pray  in  accordance  with  the  Father's  mind,  who 
humbly  claims  God's  promised  gift,  and  pledges  himself  to 
life-long  service  and  obedience.  Penitence,  as  we  find  it 
expressing  itself  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  is  essentially  a  spirit 
of  self-surrender  :  asking  nothing  for  itself  but  needful 
strength  to  do  God's  will,  and  deliverance  from  sin  and  the 
evil  which  results  from  it.  For  the  rest,  it  commits  itself 
wholly  into  the  Father's  hands,  knowing  that  the  acceptance 
of  His  will  is  blessedness  and  peace. 

Penitence,  then,  and  the  faith  which  inspires  it — these 
are  the  primary  conditions  of  forgiveness.  The  other 
essential  condition  is  that  the  penitent  sinner  should  imitate 
in  his  own  behaviour  to  others  the  goodness  to  which  he 
appeals.  It  is  needless  to  remind  ourselves  of  the  solemn 
emphasis  laid  on  this  condition  by  our  Lord.  It  is  enforced 
in  the  comment  which  follows  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the 
sixth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew ;  it  is  vividly  illustrated  by  the 
parable  of  the  unmerciful  servant. ^  Gregory  of  Nyssa  says 
with  striking  boldness  :  '  We  are,  as  it  were,  asking  God 
to  imitate  us  :  "I  have  forgiven  ;  do  Thou  forgive.  Imi- 
tate the  kindness  of  Thy  servant,  O  Lord."  So  let  him 
who  approaches  his  Benefactor  be  a  benefactor ;  let  him 
who  approaches  Him  W^ho  is  good,  just,  forgiving,  kind,  be 
himself  good,  just,  forgiving,  kind.'  ^  Thus  the  petition 
not  only  sets  up  an  ideal  standard  of  human  conduct ;  it 
lays  down  a  principle  of  the  divine  governance.  God  deals 
with  men  as  they  themselves  deal  with  others.  With  what 
measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  he  measured  to  you  again.^    Further, 

1  Matt.  vi.  14,   15  ;    xviii.  21  foil. 

2  De  or  at.  iii.  753  A. 

^  Matt.   vii.   2  ;     Luke   vi.    38.     Cp.    Ecclus.   xxviii.    1-5. 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  171 

it  should  be  noticed  that  the  reference  in  this  passage  is 
not  to  definite  actions,  but  to  temper  and  judgment.  It 
is  the  harsh,  vindictive,  censorious  spirit,  extreme  to  mark 
what  is  done  amiss,  that  is  here  prohibited ;  the  habit  of 
mind  which  imputes  evil,  puts  a  bad  construction  on  the 
words  or  conduct  of  another,  and  judges  him  mercilessly 
or  ungenerously.  It  is  the  merciful  in  speech  as  well  as 
in  behaviour  who  shall  obtain  mercy.  Judgment  is  without 
mercy  to  him  that  hath  showed  no  mercy. '^ 

It  is  evident  that  this  teaching  made  a  very  deep  impress- 
ion on  Christ's  followers.  In  early  Christian  writers  it 
is  brought  into  striking  prominence.  Clement,  for  instance, 
in  exhorting  the  Christians  of  Corinth,  beseeches  them 
'  most  of  all  to  bear  in  mind  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
which  He  spake  enjoining  forbearance  and  long-suffering. 
For  thus  He  spake,  "  Have  mercy  that  ye  may  obtain 
mercy  ;  forgive  that  it  may  be  forgiven  you  ;  as  ye  do 
shall  it  be  done  unto  you  ;  as  ye  give,  so  shall  it  be  given 
unto  you  ;  as  ye  judge,  so  shall  ye  be  judged  ;  as  ye  show 
kindness,  so  shall  kindness  be  shewed  unto  you."  '  In  the 
same  spirit  Polycarp  bids  the  Philippians  '  remember  the 
words  of  the  Lord,  "  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged ; 
forgive,  and  it  shall  be  forgiven  unto  you  ;  have  mercy 
that  ye  may  receive  mercy  "  ' ;  and  he  exhorts  presbyters 
in  particular  to  be  compassionate  to  all,  '  not  quickly  believ- 
ing anything  against  any  man,  not  hasty  in  judgment, 
knowing  that  we  are  all  debtors  of  sin.  If  then  we  entreat 
the  Lord  that  He  would  forgive  us,  we  ought  also  to  for- 
give.' 2  To  these  testimonies  may  be  added  that  of  Bishop 
Butler,  who  in  a  celebrated  sermon  on  this  subject  mentions 
some  considerations  which,  as  he  says, '  common  sense  should 
suggest,'  impelling  us  to  forgive  those  who  have  done  us 

^  James  ii.  13.     ^  Clem.,  ad  Cor.  xiii;  Polyc,  ad  Phil.  ii.  and  vi. 


172      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

any  wrong.  He  points  out  how  apt  is  self-love  to  magnify 
an  injury ;  how  anger  or  ill-will  is  usually  '  a  false  medium 
of  viewing  things,  which  always  represents  characters  and 
actions  much  worse  than  they  really  are  ;  how  fruitful  a 
cause  of  enmity  is  sheer  misunderstanding  and  erroneous 
inference.'  ^  But  the  New  Testament  does  not  appeal 
primarily  to  considerations  of  this  kind.  It  points  us 
plainly  to  the  divine  example ;  we  are  to  forgive  even  as 
God  also  in  Christ  forgave  us.^  It  records  the  intercession 
of  the  Redeemer  for  His  murderers.  It  reminds  us  con- 
tinually that  we  share  with  those  who  offend  us  a  frail  and 
imperfect  nature.  It  teaches  that  sin  is  a  just  object  not 
only  of  indignation  but  of  pity,  since  '  no  one  ever  did  a 
designed  injury  to  another,  but  at  the  same  time  he  did  a 
much  greater  to  himself.'  ^  Indeed,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
entire  prayer  of  which  this  petition  forms  part,  excludes 
the  spirit  of  mutual  hatred  and  ill-will ;  partly  because  it 
is  a  prayer  of  intercession  for  all,  partly  because  it  puts 
us  in  mind  of  our  own  sinfulness  and  need  of  mercy. 

(2 )  We  have  considered  the  conditions  of  forgiveness  : 
what  may  be  said  as  to  its  meaning  and  effects  ? 

Forgiveness  plainly  implies  the  remission,  at  least  in 
some  measure  of  the  penal  consequences  of  sin.  '  In  some 
measure  '  only  :  for  even  if  we  are  mercifully  exempted 
from  those  more  severe  judgments  which  fall  upon  sin  as 
by  a  self-acting  law,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  be  alto- 
gether unpunished.  Sin  is  invariably  followed  by  penalty 
of  one  kind  or  another,  spiritual  or  temporal.*  But  the 
chastisement  by  which  God  vindicates  His  outraged  law 
changes  its  character  in  accordance  with  the  changed  atti- 

1  Sermons,  no.  ix.,  '  Upon  Forgiveness  of  Injuries.' 
^  Eph.  iv.  32. 

3  Butler,  uhi    sup.     Cp.  Chrys.  in  Matt.  horn.  xix.  255  A-257  C. 
*  On  this  subject  see  The  Rule  of  Faith  and  Hope  (Lib.  of  Hist. 
Theol.),  pp.  183  foil. 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  173 

tude  of  the  penitent  sinner.  It  becomes  a  healing  and 
purifying  discipline,  corrective  and  remedial,  tending  so 
to  separate  the  sinner  from  his  sin,  so  to  strengthen  the 
infirmity  of  the  paralysed  will  and  the  disordered  affections 
as  gradually  to  educate  and  perfect  the  offender's  character. 
When  we  pray  for  forgiveness,  we  implicitly  acknowledge 
our  need  of  spiritual  discipline.  We  profess,  as  it  were, 
our  readiness  to  accept  difficulties,  trials,  disabilities,  per- 
plexities which  are  the  just  recompense  of  our  own  past 
wilfulness.  We  desire  to  submit  to  God's  dealings  with 
us  in  the  spirit  of  trustful  faith  which  breathes  in  the  words 
of  the  prophet :  I  will  hear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord  because 
I  have  sinned  against  Him,  until  He  plead  my  cause  and 
execute  judgment  for  me  :  He  will  bring  me  forth  to  the  light 
and  I  shall  behold  His  righteousness.^  In  any  case,  what 
we  supremely  desire  is  not  only  release  from  the  outward 
consequences  of  wrongdoing,  but  deliverance  from  the 
sinfulness  which  is  the  most  bitter  fruit  of  sin  :  from  the 
hard  and  cold  heart,  the  weak  and  wayward  will,  the  defiled 
conscience,  memory  or  imagination,  the  disordered  affec- 
tions, the  darkness  of  mind  and  blindness  of  spirit  by  which 
sin  is  invariably  punished. 

Forgiveness,  then,  does  not  mean  the  entire  release  of 
the  sinner  from  the  consequences  of  his  sin.  On  the  contrary, 
the  chastisement  that  overtakes  him  is  the  messenger  of  the 
divine  mercy.  It  is  a  token  that  Almighty  God  yet  deals 
with  him  as  a  son,  still  persists  in  the  fulfilment  of  His 
purpose  of  grace.  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  Thou  chastenesf, 
0  Lord,  cries  the  Psalmist.^  But  at  least  remission  implies 
the  cancelling  of  the  extreme  penalties  which  await  the 
unforgiven  :  the  loss  of  God,  the  separation  of  the  soul 
from  Him  Who  is  its  life. 

On  the  other  hand  forgiveness  implies  a  change  of  feeling 

1  Mic.  vii.  9.  2  Ps.  xciv.  12. 


174      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

in  Him  Who  forgives,  responding  to  the  changed  mind  or 
will  {ixe-rdvoia)  of  the  penitent  sinner.  It  involves  the 
reconciliation  of  the  sinner  to  God  :  a  reconciliation  rendered 
possible  by  the  change  in  the  sinner  himself.  Forgiveness 
means  the  renewed  outflow  towards  the  sinner  of  a  love 
which  his  sin  had  thwarted  and  restrained.^  Love  recog- 
nizes in  the  sinner  the  possibilities  which  penitence  brings 
within  his  reach.  It  deals  with  him,  and  looks  upon  him, 
not  as  he  now  is,  but  as  he  will  become  when  the  new-born 
spirit  of  contrition  has  had  its  perfect  work.  It  treats  him 
as  good,  and  therefore  as  a  fitting  object  of  divine  love ; 
because  the  main  factor  that  makes  goodness  for  him  a 
future  possibility  is  already  present,  namely  the  converted 
will,  the  penitent  heart.  ^ 

At  the  same  time  we  gather  from  this  petition  that  forgive- 
ness is  provisional  and  conditional.  It  may  be  forfeited 
or  revoked,  if  we  forget  the  law  by  which  forgiving  love  is 
guided.  The  remission  of  sin  by  God  depends  on  conditions 
which  may  be  broken  or  forgotten.  He  only  who  lives, 
and  deals  with  his  fellow-men,  in  the  spirit  of  love,  can 
hope  for  that  remission  of  sin  which  is  the  effect  and  seal 
of  love.  Thus,  says  Peter  Chrysologus,  '  the  power  of 
obtaining  pardon  is  in  thine  own  hands  ;  on  thyself,  O  man, 
depends  the  forgiveness  of  God ;  thou  art  made  to  thyself 
the  author  of  divine  remission.'  ^ 

Forgiveness,  then,  is  no  isolated  or  occasional  incident 
in  the  life  of  the  Christian,  but  a  continuous  outflow  of 
healing  and  transforming  love,  dependent  on  the  soul's 
persistence  in  the  temper  of  penitence  and  in  the  spirit  of 
charity  which  penitence  inspires.     Even  the  sins  of  infirmity 

1  Cp.  Isa.  Ixiii.  15. 

'^  On  all  this  mysterious  subject  see  the  third  chapter  of  Dr. 
Moberly's  book.  Atonement  and  Personality,  esp.  pp.  60  foil. 
3  De  orat.  Dom.,  serm.  iv. 


'FORGIVE  US  OUR  DEBTS'  175 

which  we  sorrowfully  confess  may  be  so  overruled  as  to 
minister  to  the  eternal  good  of  the  soul.  As  a  medieval 
bishop  says  :  '  Assuredly,  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  Thou  hast 
purposed  to  save  me,  even  a  fall  into  sin,  in  which  I  have 
so  often  and  so  basely  been  involved,  will  work  together 
with  everything  else  for  my  good ;  because  I  am  rightly 
bound  henceforth  to  be  more  humble,  more  watchful,  more 
careful  in  all  things.'  ^ 

The  forgiveness  of  sins  is  at  once  an  object  of  future  hope 
and  a  present  experience.  To  hope  for  forgiveness  con- 
summated is  to  cherish  what  St.  Paul  calls  the  hope  of  right- 
eousness 2 ;  for  it  is  only  when  we  are  actually  holy  that 
we  are  such  as  righteous  love  can  wholly  welcome  and  accept. 
To  pray  for  forgiveness  is  to  pray  that  more  and  more  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  may  be  manifested  in  our  lives,  that  the 
love  of  sin  may  be  subdued  in  us,  and  the  victory  of  grace 
completed. 

On  the  other  hand,  divine  forgiveness  is  the  supreme 
Christian  experience.  This  experience  has  had  a  history. 
It  has  been  from  the  first  a  well-spring  of  spiritual  joy, 
power  and  inspiration,  since  it  has  brought  countless  souls 
in  all  ages  of  Christian  history  into  direct  communion  and 
contact  with  One  Who  not  only  claimed  with  divine  authority 
on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  but  Who  also  declared  that  in 
beholding  Him  and  receiving  Him,  men  behold  and  receive 
the  Father  that  sent  Him.^ 


1  Simon  of  Ghent,  bishop  of  Sarum,   1297-1315.     See  also  the 
note,  p.  176. 

2  Gal.  V.  5.     Cp.  I   John  v.  16  and  see  R.  C.  Moberly,  uhi  sup., 

PP-  72,  73- 

3  John  xiv.  9  ;    xiii.  20. 


176      THE   RULE   OF   WORK   AND   WORSHIP 

NOTE 
The  Moral  Fruits  of  Forgiveness 

St.  Bernard,  in  Cantica  xiv.  7,  speaks  of  the  Church  as  the 
spouse  to  whom  much  is  forgiven  and  who  therefore  '  loveth 
much.'  He  proceeds  to  describe  the  way  in  which  forgiveness, 
corresponding  to  a  deepened  sense  of  sin,  develops  the  hfe  of 
grace  in  the  absolved  soul. 

'  Inde  mansuetior  [fit]  ad  correptionem,  inde  patientior  ad 
laborem  ;  inde  ardentior  ad  amorem,  inde  sagacior  ad  cautelam  ; 
inde  humihor  pro  conscientia,  inde  acceptior  pro  verecundia ; 
inde  ad  obediendum  paratior,  inde  ad  gratiarum  actionem  devo- 
tior  ac  sollicitior,' 


CHAPTER   X 

'AND   BRING   US   NOT   INTO  TEMPTATION'    (St. 
Matthew,  St.  Luke) 

*  Absit  ut  Dominus  tentare  videatur.  .  .  .     Diaboli  est  et  infirmitas  et 
malitia.' — Tertullian. 

THE  repentant  sinner  is  forgiven  ;  he  is  released  from 
the  guilt  and  from  the  extreme  consequences  of  his 
sin,  but  not  that  he  may  merely  sit  still  and  rest  in  the 
assurance  of  the  divine  favour.  The  pilgrimage  of  life 
lies  before  him.  He  is  absolved  in  order  that  with  the 
'  brightness  '  of  '  the  happy  warrior  '  he  may  go  on  his 
heavenward  way,  may  face  the  perils  of  his  spiritual  war- 
fare, rejoicing  in  the  sense  of  God's  mercy  and  protection. 
Hence  we  pray,  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  hut  deliver  us 
from  evil.  The  words  Lead  us  not  imply  that  a  new  direc- 
tion has  been  given  to  life.  0  Lord,  cries  the  prophet,  I 
know  that  the  way  of  man  is  not  in  himself.  It  is  not  in  man 
that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps.'^  The  converted  and  forgiven 
soul  places  itself  under  the  direct  guidance  of  God,  Mani- 
fold trials  and  conflicts  await  the  pilgrim  ;  but  the  Lord  is 
his  Shepherd  ;  his  life  henceforth  is  a  guided  life  ;  a  course 
lies  before  him  of  which  each  step  is  known  and  ordered 
by  God.  This  petition  encourages  us  to  enter  boldly  on 
the  untrodden  path,  but  in  a  spirit  of  self-distrust  and 
humility,  deprecating  trials  that  may  be  above  our  strength 
and  not  rushing  impetuously  into  them.     '  If  we  are  forced 

1  Jer,  X.  23. 

177  N 


178      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

into  them  we  must  play  the  man  and  stand  fast ;  but  when 
we  are  not  summoned  to  battle,  we  must  abide  in  quiet- 
ness.' ^  It  is  evident  that  this  prayer  is  the  expression  of 
a  diffidence  that  is  appropriate  and  natural,  of  a  spirit 
that  is  the  opposite  of  presumption.  In  the  trials  that 
overtake  us  we  are  to  yield  ourselves  up  in  confidence  to 
Him  Who  at  once  leads  His  children  and  upholds  them.  2 
For  we  should  observe  that  the  actual  Greek  word  used  in 
this  clause  [elaeviyKj]';)  suggests  the  thought  of  God's 
sustaining  arms  carrying  the  soul  onwards  towards  its 
appointed  tasks  and  conflicts,  a  thought  which  reappears 
in  Hebrews  vi.  i,  Let  us  be  borne  on  {4)€pa)fM€0a)  unto  per- 
fection. If,  in  one  aspect,  the  Christian  life  depends  on  a 
man's  strenuous  personal  effort,  in  another  it  consists  in 
his  self-surrender  to  a  sustaining  power  which  worketh  in 
him  both  to  will  and  to  work  in  fulfilment  of  God's  good 
pleasure.^  So  it  was  with  Jehovah's  ancient  Church  in  the 
wilderness  of  temptation  ;  He  bare  them  and  carried  them 
all  the  days  of  old.  So  in  all  generations  the  promise  stands 
sure  :  Even  to  hoar  hairs  will  I  carry  you  :  I  have  made  and 
I  will  bear  you  ;  yea,  I  will  carry  and  will  deliver.  * 

A  preliminary  word  is  needed  touching  the  precise  form 
of  this  petition.  The  old  Syriac  version  of  St.  Luke  xi.  4 
runs  as  follows  :  '  And  do  not  make-us-to-enter  into  tempta- 
tion ' — a  phrase  which  suggests  a  connexion  between  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  narrative  of  the  betrayal  in  Geth- 
semane.^     It  also  implies  that  the  word  '  temptation  '  is 

1  Chrys.,  horn,  in  Matt.  xix.  253  D. 

2  Pet.  Chrys.  i.  :  '  Rogamus  ut  nos  nostro  arbitrio  non  relinquat, 
sed  in  omni  actu  paterna  nos  pietate  constringat,  et  in  vitae  tramite 
caelesti  moderatione  confirmet.' 

3  Phil.  ii.  13  ;  cp.  i  Thess.  v.  24.  See  also  Isa.  Ixiii.  9 ;  Deut. 
xxxiii.  27  ;    Ps.  Ixxviii.  52.  *  Isa.  xlvi.  4. 

^  See  Luke  xxii.  40  (Matt.  xxvi.  41)  :  Trpoaeix^o-de  /x??  elffeXdeTv  els 
Teipa<T/j.6i', 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'      179 

used  in  a  wide  sense.  '  Temptation  '  includes  everything 
of  the  nature  of  a  fiery  trial  which  comes  upon  men  to 
prove  their  constancy ;  everything  that  '  overtakes  '  them 
in  the  course  of  hfe,  and  tends  either  to  lead  them  astray, 
or  to  hold  them  back,  from  the  service  of  God.^ 

It  has  been  felt  as  a  difficulty  by  many  commentators 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer  that  God  should  be  supposed  to  '  lead  ' 
men  into  temptation,  when  He  Himself  tempteth  no  man.^ 
Tertullian  and  Cyprian,  for  example,  both  paraphrase  the 
petition,  '  Do  not  suffer  us  to  be  led  into  temptation  ' ; 
while  others  explain  it  in  one  of  two  ways.  It  signifies 
either  (i)  '  Leave  us  not  to  ourselves  when  we  are  heedlessly 
running  into  danger  '  :  God  being  said  to  '  lead '  those 
whom  He  abandons  to  their  own  choice  when  they  are 
set  upon  doing  evil ;  or  (2)  '  Suffer  us  not  to  be  overwhelmed 
by  temptation  '  ;  that  is,  to  fall  into  violent  or  prolonged 
temptations  that  may  overtax  our  strength  or  endanger 
our  power  of  perseverance.'  Augustine  appears  to  combine 
the  two  explanations  when  he  writes,  '  We  pray  that  we 
may  not  be  so  deprived  of  His  assistance  as  to  yield  to 
any  temptation  either  through  being  deceived,  or  through 
being  overcome  '  ;  and  this  corresponds  to  his  statement 
that  temptation  is  twofold,  arising  either  from  the  hope  of 
attaining  some  temporal  good,  or  from  the  fear  of  losing  it.^ 


In  this  petition  and  in  that  which  follows  it,  two  possible 
sources  of  temptation  seem  to  be  indicated. 

1  For  an  account  of  temptation  in  terms  of  modem  Psychology, 
see  the  Note,  p.  190.  ^  James  i.  13. 

2  See  Aug.,  ep.  cxxx.  21  ;  de  serm.  in  monte,  ii.  25,  82.  Cp.  serm. 
in  Matt.  vi.  Ivii.  9  : '  In  ilia  tentatione  qua  quisque  decipitur  et  sedu- 
citur,  neminem  tentat  Deus  :  sed  plane  judicio  suo  alto  et  occulto 
quosdam  deserit.  Cum  ille  deseruerit,  invenit  quid  faciat  tentator. 
Ne  deserat  ergo  nos,  ideo  dicimus  Ne  nos  inferos.' 


i8o      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

It  has  its  origin,  first,  in  the  weakness  and  imperfection 
of  our  own  nature.  Temptation  is  often  the  penal  conse- 
quence of  past  carelessness  or  self-indulgence,  which  has 
left  a  weak  spot  in  our  character,  laying  us  specially  open 
to  attack.  Men  are  often  involved  in  spiritual  perils 
through  sheer  heedlessness.  They  drift  into  situations 
which  others  might  possibly  occupy  without  risk,  but  which 
for  them,  considering  their  own  peculiar  faults  and  infirm- 
ities, are  fraught  with  danger.  They  fall  through  the 
weakness  of  nature,  unprepared  and  unfortified.  This 
petition  is  an  antidote  to  such  heedlessness.  In  using  it 
we  put  ourselves  under  the  fatherly  protection  and  guidance 
of  God,  and  pledge  ourselves,  as  it  were,  to  prayerfully 
consider  each  step  in  life  in  the  light  of  His  will.  Only 
when  we  have  sincerely  besought  God  to  '  lead  us  not 
into  temptation '  can  we  pursue  our  way  with  quietness 
and  confidence.  Every  calling  in  life,  of  course,  involves 
probation ;  and  in  this  sense  at  least  '  temptation  '  is  a 
discipline  which  no  one  can  expect  or  even  desire  to  evade 
altogether.  1  This  is  one  of  the  lessons  suggested  by  the 
Book  of  Job,  which  teaches  that  Satan,  however  violent 
his  assaults,  is  nevertheless  wholly  under  the  control  of 
God ;  that  temptation  may  beset  us  in  its  most  dangerous 
forms,  not  in  youth  but  in  mature  life,  at  a  time  when 
character  is,  relatively  speaking,  fixed  and  stable,  and  when 
circumstances  might  seem  to  favour  a  minimum  of  change 
and  disturbance.  But  the  chief  purpose  of  the  book  is  to 
illustrate  the  law  that  temptation  besets  not  only  the  evil 
but  the  righteous.  Job  is  the  very  type  of  the  sinless 
sufferer,  tried  and  tested  in  the  furnace  of  adversity,  and 
coming  forth  as  gold.^    The  narrative  of  his  trial  and  its 

1  Aug.,  de  serm.  in  monte,  ii.  9,  32  :  '  Non  ergo  hie  oratur  ut  non 
tentemur,  sed  ut  non  inferamur  in  tentationem.' 

*  Job  xxiii.  10.  Cp.  Pet.  Chrys.  I.e.  :  '  In  hoc  saccule  est  ipsa 
vita  tentatio.' 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'       i8i 

issue  is  plainly  intended  to  impress  upon  the  godly  in  Israel 
a  new  and  deeper  view  of  suffering,  as  at  once  probationary 
and  disciplinary,  testing  faith  and  perfecting  patience. 

Christian  experience  corroborates  this  teaching.  It  is 
plain  that  in  any  sphere  of  life  character  is  continually 
tested  by  the  constant  demand  for  vigilance,  patience, 
sobriety,  self-control,  persistence  in  the  fulfilment  of  duty 
under  the  pressure  of  adverse  circumstances.  There  will 
always  be  a  constantly  recurring  demand  for  moral  decision  ; 
for  acts  of  choice,  which  in  their  issues  will  either  weaken 
or  confirm  character.  Life  is  a  '  warfare  '  or  '  temptation  ' 
just  because  it  is  an  opportunity  for  serving  God  and  over- 
coming hindrances  to  the  advancement  of  His  kingdom. 
Thus  Origen  refers  to  a  passage  in  the  Book  of  Judith 
(viii.  25-27)  which  speaks  of  temptation  or  trial  as  a  matter 
of  thanksgiving,  showing  that  God  is  dealing  with  men  as 
with  His  saints  in  times  past,  and  exercising  them  with  a 
discipline  that  is  for  their  good.^  We  may  remember,  too, 
some  lines  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book  : — 

'  Was  the  trial  sore  ? 
Temptation  sharp  ?     Thank  God  a  second  time  ! 
Why  comes  temptation  but  for  man  to  meet 
And  master,  and  make  crouch  beneath  his  foot. 
And  so  be  pedestalled  in  triumph  ?     Pray 
"  Lead  us  into  no  such  temptations.  Lord  I  " 
Yea,  but,  O  Thou  Whose  servants  are  the  bold, 
Lead  such  temptations  by  the  head  and  hair. 
Reluctant  dragons,  up  to  who  dares  fight. 
That  so  he  may  do  battle  and  have  praise  I  '  ^ 

Men  are  '  delivered  '  from  temptation,  not  by  being  simply 
exempted  or  protected  from  it,  but  by  being  enabled  to 
withstand  it.     They  are  '  led '  into  temptation,  or  '  enter 

1  Orig.,  de  orat.  xxix.  i.  Cp.  James  i.  3,  '  Count  it  all  joy  when 
ye  fall  into  manifold  temptations  '  ;    i  Pet.  iv.  12,  13. 

2  R.  Browning,  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  bk.  x, '  The  Pope,'  11.  11 83 
foil. 


i82      THE   RULE   OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

into  '  it,  when  God  gives  them  up  to  their  own  hearts' 
lusts  or  suffers  them  to  incur  the  penal  consequences  of 
their  own  heedlessness  and  presumption. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  St.  James,  after  dwelling  on  the 
necessity  of  probation  in  human  life,  at  once  proceeds  to 
speak  of  the  duty  of  praying  for  the  gift  of  wisdom.  Wis- 
dom, or  moral  thoughtfulness,  is  the  faculty  which  gives 
men  insight  into  the  meaning  and  issues  of  life  as  a  whole, 
and  which  therefore  guides  them  to  a  right  decision  in 
particular  matters  of  conduct ;  it  is  the  habit  of  watchful- 
ness which  distinguishes  between  those  things  which  should 
be  sought,  and  those  which  should  be  avoided,  by  the  soul 
that  desires  to  attain  to  God.^ 

Bearing  then  in  mind  the  weakness  of  human  nature, 
we  are  taught  to  deprecate  trials  that  threaten  to  be  beyond 
our  strength.  According  to  the  quarter  from  which  these 
trials  assail  us,  we  usually  speak  of  them  as  temptations 
of  the  flesh  or  of  the  world.  Temptations  of  the  flesh  are 
such  as  appeal  to  those  impulses  and  appetites  which  belong 
to  the  animal  side  of  our  nature,  and  are  as  yet  '  imper- 
fectly moralized ' ;  in  other  words,  are  only  partially 
restrained  by  the  power  of  will.  These  propensities  may 
have  been  intensified  either  by  the  force  of  heredity  or  by 
undue  indulgence  in  the  past ;  but  they  are  not  in  them- 
selves sinful.2     Rather  they  are  the  material,  so  to  speak, 

1  Aug.,  de  serm.  in  monte,  ii.  9,  35  :  '  Sapientia  .  .  .  ea  est  ut 
id  quod  Domino  revelandum  fugiendum  esse  intellexerimus,  cau- 
tissima  vigilantia  fugiamus  ;  et  id  quod  Domino  revelante  appe- 
tendum  esse  intellexerimus,  flagrantissima  charitate  appetamus.' 
So  again,  in  de  mor.  eccL,  25,  he  defines  '  Prudence  '  thus  :  '  Amorem 
bene  discernentem  ea  quibus  adjuvetur  in  Deum,  ab  iis  quibus 
impediri  potest.'  Westcott,  Epp.  of  St.  John,  p.  59  :  '  The  essence 
of  wisdom  lies  in  the  recognition  of  the  unity  of  purpose  which  runs 
through  the  whole  development  of  being.' 

2  Cp.'Tennant,  The  Concept  of  Sin,  ch.  v. 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'      183 

out  of  which  the  disordered  will  produces  sin,  by  identifying 
itself  with  the  animal  craving  in  defiance  of  the  warnings 
of  conscience.  '  Temptation  '  implies  a  struggle  between 
natural  impulse  and  reason  ;  sin  consists  in  the  yielding  of 
the  will  to  natural  impulse  in  opposition  to  the  promptings 
of  reason. 

Temptations  of  the  world,  on  the  other  hand,  are  those 
which  arise  from  the  pressure  of  average  human  custom  or 
opinion  in  regard  to  matters  of  conduct.  Men  are  largely 
dependent  on  the  goodwill  of  their  fellows,  and  that  for- 
feiture of  such  goodwill  which  usually  follows  any  deviation 
from  the  accepted  standard  is,  to  most  men,  an  object  of 
dread.  It  is  the  average  opinion  of  mankind  that  constrains 
us  to  bow  down  to  the  idols  which  it  worships — wealth, 
ease,  comfort,  success,  popularity — and  to  aim  merely 
at  conforming  to  a  conventional  standard  of  morality. 
The  world  tempts  men  to  pursue  desirable  objects,  and 
to  organize  life  as  a  whole,  without  reference  to  God  and 
His  will.  Worldliness  is  the  temper  which,  so  far  from 
seeking  to  be  '  led '  by  God,  leaves  Him  out  of  sight 
altogether.  It  means  (to  use  an  expressive  term)  '  God- 
blindness.'  It  means  the  worship  and  service  of  the 
creature  rather  than  the  Creator  ;  ^  and  this  involves  an 
entire  misdirection  of  personality. 

II 

Temptation,  then,  as  we  have  seen,  usually  originates 
in  ourselves.  Te  vince,  et  mundus  est  vidus,  says  Augus- 
tine. ^     It  is  a  struggle  between  lower  and  higher  elements 

1  Rom.  i.  25. 

2  Serm.  in  Matt.  vi.  Ivii.  9.  The  distinction  between  temptations 
of  the.  flesh  and  of  the  world  is  implied  in  a  prayer  of  Bishop  T.  Wilson 
{Sacra  Privata,  Wednesday  meditations)  :  '  Give  me  grace  that  I 
may  never  follow  the  inclinations  of  corrupted  nature,  nor  govern 
myself  according  to  the  maxims  of  an  evil  world.' 


i84      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

in  our  own  nature.  But  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  plainly  sug- 
gests another  possible  source  of  temptation  :  the  malignant 
activity  of  an  invisible  and  supernatural  enemy,  '  the  evil 
one.'  There  is  at  work  in  the  world  a  personal  being  who 
is  the  deliberate  and  relentless  e7temy  of  all  righteousness  : 
the  adversary  and  accuser  of  the  individual  soul,  assailing 
it  either  by  violence  or  by  guile,  approaching  it  either  as 
the  lion  or  the  adder. 

It  was  as  a  lion  that  Satan  assaulted  the  church  of  the 
martyrs  and  confessors.  St.  John  represents  the  conflict 
of  the  early  church,  in  one  of  its  aspects  at  least,  as  a  struggle 
between  the  Church — the  true  Society — the  Bride  of  the 
Lamb,  and  a  wild  beast  which  represents  the  world- 
power,  based  on  luxury  and  the  pride  of  life  ;  organized 
and  directed  by  a  personal  enemy  of  God  and  of  His  saints. 
Wherever  churches  or  individual  Christians  are  oppressed 
and  persecuted  for  their  faith ;  wherever  men  are  called 
to  endure  contempt,  reproach,  or  despiteful  usage  for  the 
name  of  Christ — there  the  enemy  seeks  to  attain  his  end 
through  violence.  But  more  often,  perhaps,  he  comes  as 
the  serpent,  the  deceiver,  using  the  weapon  of  guile.  He 
comes  clothed  as  an  angel  of  light :  perverting  what  is 
innocent,  working  insidiously  through  friendships,  through 
literature,  through  the  sense  of  beauty,  through  generous 
instincts  and  noble  ambitions.  Augustine's  words  are 
applicable  to  any  seemingly  peaceful  and  uneventful  period, 
either  in  the  Church's  history,  or  in  that  of  an  individual : 
'  As  our  forefathers  had  need  of  patience  in  their  conflict 
with  the  lion,  so  have  we  need  of  watchfulness  against  the 
serpent.  .  .  .  Satan  is  more  to  be  feared  when  he  uses 
deceit  than  when  he  openly  rages.'  ^ 

In  this  connexion  the  temptation  of  our  Lord  in  the 

1  Aug.,  enarr.  in  Psalm,  xxxix.  i. 


'BRING  US   NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'      185 

wilderness  is  an  object  lesson  for  Christians.  In  Him, 
says  St.  John,  is  no  sin  ;  yet  it  is  also  true  that  He  was 
in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are.  ^  In  His  case  the  assaults 
of  the  tempter  took  place  immediately  after  the  descent 
of  the  Spirit  at  the  Baptism,  teaching  us,  what  the  experience 
of  life  corroborates,  that  those  are  most  liable  to  temptation 
who  have  recently  received  some  spiritual  gift,  or  have 
been  restored  by  forgiveness  to  a  state  of  grace.  ^  In  His 
case  again,  not  only  in  the  wilderness,  but  throughout  His 
ministry  on  earth,  Satan  appealed  to  the  sinless  instincts 
and  cravings  of  nature  :  to  such  affections  as  hunger, 
weariness,  repugnancy  to  suffer,  the  fear  of  death.  What 
temptation  meant  to  Christ  has  been  described  by  a  wise 
and  careful  teacher  as  follows  :  '  If  the  highest  virtue  does 
not  exclude  that  instinct  inseparable  from  humanity,  to 
which  pain  is  an  object  of  dread,  and  pleasure  of  desire ; 
which  prefers  ease  and  quiet  to  tumult  and  vexation,  the 
regard  and  esteem  of  others  to  their  scorn  and  aversion ; 
to  which  ill-requited  toil  or  experienced  unkindness  are 
sources  of  corroding  anguish  and  depression  :  then  every 
conjuncture,  which  presents  but  one  of  these  objects  of 
dread  as  the  concomitant  of  doing  God's  will,  or  associates 
one  of  their  desirable  opposites  with  neglect  or  disobedience 
— every  such  conjuncture  must  produce  a  conflict  between 
duty  and  these  necessary  instincts  of  humanity  sufficient 
to  constitute  temptation  in  the  strictest  sense.'  ^  In  the 
wilderness  Satan  approached  our  Lord  with  guile :  in 
Gethsemane  and  on  Calvary  he  strove  to  overwhelm  Him 
with  violence.  In  any  case  the  Gospel  narrative  certainly 
suggests  that  through  the  sinless  instincts   of  a  perfect 

1  I  John  iii.  5  ;   Heb.  iv.  15,  with  Bp.  Westcott's  note. 

*  This  thought  is  also  suggested  by  the  copula,  '  And  lead  us  not 
into  temptation.' 

3  W.  H.  Mill,  Five  Sermons  on  the  Temptation  of  Christ  our  Lord, 
P-  35- 


i86      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

human  nature,  our  blessed  Lord  was  assailed  by  a  personal 
adversary,  who  strove  by  every  means  to  seduce  or  to 
terrify  Him  into  some  course  of  action  contrary  to  the  will 
and  purpose  of  His  heavenly  Father. 

What  precise  relation  subsists  between  the  propensities 
or  cravings  within  us  and  the  suggestions  of  Satan  from 
without,  we  have  no  power  to  determine.  What  we  know 
is  that  the  will  is  the  seat  of  sin,  that  the  will  is  often  respon- 
sive to  suggestions  from  without,  and  that  such  suggestions 
may  conceivably  reach  us  through  the  agency  of  a  personal 
and  invisible  being.  The  secret  operation  of  Satan  may 
be  illustrated  by  what  we  know  of  the  phenomena  of  hypno- 
tism or  suggestion,  and  of  the  influence  of  one  will  upon 
another.  At  the  same  time  it  is  clear  that  suggestion  acts 
powerfully  in  proportion  to  the  weakness  of  the  recipient's 
will.  Hence  the  peril  of  constantly  yielding  to  temptation, 
and  so  laying  the  will  open  to  diabolical  influence.  ^  The 
whole  subject,  however,  of  Satanic  suggestion  is  involved 
in  impenetrable  mystery.  If  we  regard  the  fact  of  such 
suggestion  as  possible  and  even  probable  in  a  world  like 
ours,  we  may  believe  that  Satan  '  displays  and  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  charms  of  the  lower  world,  as  they  appeal  to 
the  senses,  the  imagination,  and  the  intellect.  What  would 
have  tempted  silently  and  almost  unheeded  without  him 
becomes  through  him,  articulate,  aggressive,  insistent.'  ^ 
He  solicits  the  soul  to  claim  its  liberty,  to  seek  the  gratifica- 
tion that  lies  within  its  reach,  to  identify  itself  with  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  forgetting  its  true  destiny  and 
spiritual    vocation.^    At    the    same   time   we   know   that 

1  See  a  thoughtful  article  in  The  Interpreter  for  Oct.,  1913,  '  A 
Trinity  of  evil,'  by  the  Rev.  W.  K.  L.  Clarke. 

2  Mason,   The  Faith  of  the  Gospel,  p.  108. 

3  Tennant,  op.  cit.  188  :  '  There  will  always  be  the  appeal  of 
that  which  is  momentary  but  immediately  present,  to  be  put  into 
its  place  in  the  whole  order.     There  will  always  be  desires  requir- 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'       187 

Satanic  suggestions  of  this  kind  can  only  reach  us  when, 
and  as,  God  Himself  permits  ;  and  that  they  are  sent, 
not  for  the  overthrow  of  our  weakness,  but  for  the  confirma- 
tion of  faith,  or  for  the  chastening  of  presumption.^ 

Ill 

But  the  petition  Lead  us  not  into  temptation  does  not 
encourage  us  to  dwell  on  the  thought  of  our  own  personal 
trials  of  faith  or  constancy.  Like  all  the  petitions  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  this  is  an  unselfish  request.  It  is  a  prayer 
of  the  Church  itself  for  its  own  children  :  a  prayer,  too,  for 
those  who  are,  like  the  Gentiles  described  by  St.  Paul : 
separate  from  Christ,  alienated  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  .  .  .  having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world.^ 
Not  to  dwell  particularly  on  the  special  temptations  that 
beset  members  of  the  Church  :  worldliness,  uncharitable- 
ness,  lack  of  zeal,  self-complacency,  refusal  to  be  fellow- 
helpers  to  the  truth,  rejection  of  the  preaching  of  the  Cross, 
forgetting  to  do  good  and  to  communicate,  fear  of  openly 
confessing  Christ,  factiousness,  self-will,  self-seeking  :  we 
should  call  to  mind  those  multitudes  of  average  men,  women 
and  children  whom  the  very  circumstances  of  their  lives 
expose  to  an  almost  incessant  pressure  of  temptation.  In 
factories  and  shops,  in  mercantile  houses  and  places  of 
business,  in  the  streets  and  common  lodging-houses  of  our 
cities,  in  places  of  recreation  and  amusement,  in  the  over- 

ing  to  be  inhibited  by  concentration  upon  what,  to  creatures  of 
time,  will  be,  if  higher,  yet  remoter,  considerations.  "  This  pre- 
sent evil  world  "  will  never  lose  for  us  its  mighty  power  of  saying 
"  Now  /  "  in  which  "  the  one  great  secret  of  the  world's  victory  " 
lies.' 

1  Aug.,  serm.  in  monte,  ii.  9,  34  :  '  Fiunt  tentationes  per  Satanam, 
non  potestate  ejus  sed  permissu  Domini,  ad  homines  aut  pro  suis 
peccatis  puniendos,  aut  pro  Domini  misericordia  probandos  et 
exercendos.'  ^  Eph.  ii.   12. 


i88      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

crowded  cottages  of  country  villages,  in  ships,  in  barracks, 
in  mines,  in  farmsteads,  in  solitude  and  in  the  society  of 
their  fellow-men, — there  are  those  whose  life  is  full  of 
temptation — fierce,  constant,  persistent.  The  grace  of  God 
is  indeed  ever  working  marvels  even  in  the  darkest  places 
and  amid  the  most  unhopeful  surroundings.  ^  But  we  ought 
not  to  forget  how  sore  is  the  conflict  for  multitudes  :  how 
great  the  strain  upon  temperance,  honesty,  chastity  and 
self-respect.  In  the  words  Lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
we  are  taught  to  pray  for  all  these,  that  they  may  not  be 
overcome  of  evil,  not  driven  to  recklessness  and  despair. 
Nor  can  we  ignore  the  even  greater  perils  of  the  rich  and 
prosperous,  who  not  only  in  tribulation,  but  '  in  all  time  of  ' 
their  '  wealth,'  need  so  urgently  the  help  of  our  intercessions. 

IV 

The  last  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  really  forms  the 
concluding  part  of  that  which  we  are  now  considering. 
But  before  leaving  the  subject  of  temptation,  we  may 
fittingly  remind  ourselves  of  our  Lord's  warning  addressed 
to  the  disciples  in  Gethsemane  :  a  warning  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  suggests  a  connexion  between  the  petition  Lead 
us  not  and  the  Agony  in  the  Garden. 

Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation.^ 
The  wakefulness  which  our  Lord  enjoins  is  the  necessary 
condition  of  effectual  supplication.  The  soul  must  collect 
all  its  powers  if  it  is  to  prevail  in  the  conflict  of  prayer.  ^ 
So  St.  Peter  bids  his  converts  be  sober  unto  prayer,  and 
watchful,  as  having  to  contend  with  a  sleepless  adversary. 

^  For  examples  see  Mr.  H.  Begbie's  books,  Broken  Earthenware 
and  In  the  Hand  of  the  Potter. 

2  Matt.  xxvi.  41  ;  Mark  xiv.  38.  Luke  xxii.  40  has  simply  '  Pray 
(46,  Rise  and  pray),  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation.' 

3  Col.  ii.  I ;  iv.  12.     Cp.  i  Pet.  iv.  7;  v.  8. 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'      189 

We  need,  indeed,  to  have  something  of  the  martial  temper 
in  deahng  with  our  spiritual  foes  :  to  be  keen,  alert,  vigilant, 
ready  to  endure  hardness  ;  above  all  things,  trustful  of  our 
Leader.  We  have  to  avoid  occasions  of  falling.  We  enter 
into  temptation,  we  are  ensnared  and  overwhelmed,  when 
we  place  ourselves  heedlessly  in  situations  which  we  know 
to  be  hazardous,  St.  Peter,  standing  beside  the  fire  in  the 
judgment  hall  of  the  High  Priest,  had  placed  himself  in 
a  false  position  and  was,  as  it  were,  taken  by  surprise. 
'  Watchfulness '  is  the  habit  of  mind  which  is  sensitive  to 
danger,  which  has  a  wholesome  distrust  of  itself,  which 
looks  continually  to  God  for  guidance  in  the  conduct  of  life. 
Moreover,  it  is  careful  to  leave  no  known  duty  undone,  for 
patient  continuance  in  the  work  of  our  calling  is  a  great 
safeguard  in  temptation.  ^  But  though  our  Lord  speaks 
of  watchfulness  in  this  connexion,  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  sovereign  aid  in  temptation  which  He  prescribes  is 
that  of  prayer.  Prayer  is  not  so  much  an  act,  as  a  spirit. 
It  is  the  habit  of  unbroken  dependence  upon  God,  unfailing 
confidence  in  His  character,  unswerving  loyalty  to  His 
revealed  will.  Prayer  itself  suggests  the  considerations 
which  act  most  powerfully  upon  the  will  and  strengthen 
it  to  resist  evil.  It  is  addressed  to  One  Whose  fatherly 
relation  to  us  is  a  pledge  of  His  faithfulness  :  He  will  not 
suffer  us  to  he  tempted  above  that  we  are  able,  hut  will  with 
the  temptation  make  also  the  way  of  escape  ;  ^  of  His  wisdom  : 
He  knows  the  precise  discipline  that  our  character  needs  ; 
and  of  His  love  :  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  Re  chasteneth.  ^  Con- 
stant recollection  of  the  divine  love  is  a  supreme  safeguard 
in  trial.  It  inspires  the  tempted  with  courage  and  with 
cheerfulness.     It  is  an  antidote  to  the  depression  and  fear 

1  Perhaps  this  is  implied  in  Rev.  iii.  10  :  '  Because  thou  didst 
keep  the  word  of  My  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour 
of  trial.'     Cp.  John  xvii.  6,  ii. 

*  I  Cor.  X.  13.  3  Heb.  xii.  6. 


igo      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

which  are  apt  to  unnerve  us  in  the  spiritual  combat.  Lastly, 
it  guards  us  from  being  absorbed  in  the  thought  of  our  own 
troubles.  The  words  Lead  us  not  should  help  us  to  overcome 
all  selfishness  ;  to  bear  in  mind  the  trials  and  difficulties 
which  others  share  with  us  ;  to  bear  their  burdens  as  we 
find  opportunity,  to  minister  to  them  as  we  ourselves 
would  be  ministered  unto.^  Thus  to  come  to  the  aid  and 
encouragement  of  our  brethren,  thus  to  take  part  in  their 
restoration  after  spiritual  failure  and  defeat,  is  to  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ.  More  than  this,  it  is  to  acquire  that 
spirit  of  meekness  and  gentleness  which  often  disarms  the 
violence  of  temptation,  for 

'  gently  comes  the  world  to  those 
That  are  cast  in  gentle  mould.' 

Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  suggested  in  the  Book  of  Job,  as 
elsewhere  in  Scripture,  that  the  fruit  of  suffering,  patiently 
and  steadfastly  endured,  is  a  larger  and  more  effectual  power 
of  intercession.  2  He  Who  ever  lives  to  make  intercession 
for  us  on  high  is  He  Who  suffered  being  tempted ;  Who 
having  been  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are  is  able  to 
offer  the  prevailing  prayer  through  which  we  find  grace  to 
help  us  in  time  oj  need.^ 

NOTE 

The  Psychology  of  Temptation 

'  We  are  tempted  when  we  experience  an  appetence  towards 
any  kind  of  conduct  (not  necessarily  to  be  manifested  in  out- 
ward deed)  to  which  we  assign  a  lower  moral  value,  or  away 
from  any  to  which  a  higher  value  is  similarly  assigned.  Tempta- 
tion can  only  be  undergone  by  a  moral  subject,  conscious  of  the 
presence  within  him  of  at  least  two  conflicting  impulses  or  de- 

1  Cp.  Gal.  vi.  I,  2.  2  Job  xlii.  8. 

3  Heb.  ii.  i8 ;  iv.  15,  16. 


'BRING  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION'      191 

sires  and  also  of  their  difference  in  moral  value.  It  arises  when 
of  two  springs  of  action  simultaneously  present,  the  one  of  lower 
worth  possesses  the  greater  intensity  and  the  one  of  lesser  inten- 
sity possesses  the  higher  worth.  A  strong  temptation  is  one 
in  which  discrepancy  beween  intensity  of  appeal  and  position 
on  the  scale  of  values  is  marked.  When  the  lower  impulse  is 
by  far  the  more  intense, '  passionate,'  that  is  to  say,  the  tempta- 
tion involved  is  said  to  be  '  violent '  ;  when,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  lower  impulse  (often  spoken  of  as  '  the  temptation  ')  is  but 
feebly  felt,  the  temptation  is  slight  :  but  little  struggle  is  neces- 
sary to  subdue  it.  To  be  overcome  by  a  temptation  or  a  lower 
impulse  which  solicits  with  only  shght  allurement  and  impor- 
tunity, involves  greater  shame  than  to  be  vanquished  by  one 
requiring  much  effort  of  wiU  and  bracing  of  the  moral  self  to 
resist.' 

***** 

'  The  fierceness  of  the  conflict  between  different  springs  of 
action,  and  the  call  made  upon  the  will's  reserves  of  strength 
to  quell  it,  differ  widely  in  different  individuals  with  their  dif- 
ferent psycho-physical  constitutions,  and  voluntarily  formed 
habits  and  characters ;  and  indeed  in  the  same  individual  at 
different  stages  of  his  moral  career.  But  no  mortal,  perhaps, 
who  attained  to  moral  consciousness,  was  ever  wholly  exempt 
from  the  lusting  of  the  flesh  against  the  spirit.  In  all  persons, 
in  other  words,  the  scales  of  intensity  and  worth  co-exist  but 
disagree.' 

F.  R.  Tennant,  The  Concept  of  Sin,  pp.  189,  190. 


CHAPTER   XI 

'BUT  DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE' 

(St.  Matthew) 

'  Petimus  ergo  unum,  ut  munere  hoc  a  malis  omnibus  cum  malo  careamus 
auctore.' — Pet.  Chrysologus. 

THE  present  petition  simply  completes  that  which 
precedes  it.  As  we  have  been  taught  to  trust  in 
God  as  our  Leader  and  Guide  amid  the  perils  of  our  Christian 
course,  so  here  we  appeal  to  Him  as  the  Saviour  Who  is 
able  to  deliver  us  from  the  evil  that  besets  us  in  a  world 
which  lieth  in  the  evil  one ;  ^  is  alienated  from  God  and 
subject  to  the  influence  of  His  adversary. 

There  is  a  large  consensus  of  opinion  among  early  Chris- 
tian writers  that  our  Lord  here  teaches  us  to  pray  for  deliver- 
ance, not  from '  evil '  in  the  abstract,  but  from'  the  evil  one.' 
On  this  point  the  Greek  Fathers  appear  to  be  practically 
unanimous  ;  and  their  interpretation  is  apparently  favoured 
by  the  Syriac  versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  is  taken 
for  granted  in  the  Greek  Liturgies.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  neuter  sense  seems  to  be  preferred  by  Tertullian  and 
Cyprian,  and  is  undoubtedly  accepted  by  Augustine  and 
later  Western  writers.  It  is  probably  owing  to  Augustine's 
influence  that,  in  the  West  at  any  rate,  the  neuter,  '  evil,' 
finally  supplanted  the  masculine,  '  evil  one.  '  ^ 

^  I  John  V.   19. 

^  Pet.  Chrysologus  perhaps  attempts  to  combine  both  explana- 
tions when  he  says  {sevm.  iii)  :  '  Diabolus  natura  fuit  caelestis,  nunc 
est  nequitia  spiritualis,  aetate  major  saeculo,  nocendi  usu  tritus, 

192 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      193 

The  phrase  6  7rovr]p6<i,  '  the  evil  one,'  is  characteristic  of 
the  New  Testament/  but  the  idea  which  it  conveys  has  its 
roots  in  later  Jewish  theology,  which  showed  a  tendency 
to  personify  the  evil  impulse  ^  within  the  heart  of  man — 
the  impulse  which  drives  him  to  sin — and  even  to  identify 
it  with  Satan.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  expression  '  the 
evil  one  '  is  found  in  Rabbinical  writings,  and  this  circum- 
stance lends  support  to  the  view  that  our  Lord  in  this  peti- 
tion refers  to  a  personal  being.  Further,  the  Lord's  Prayer 
seems  to  gain  force  and  clearness  when  studied  in  con- 
nexion with  the  account  of  our  Lord's  temptation.  We 
have  already  noticed  that  there  underlies  it  the  thought 
of  a  conflict  between  God  and  Satan,  which  is  also  charac- 
teristic of  the  Apocalypse.  3  Here  it  may  suffice  to  observe 
that  in  the  last  two  clauses  of  the  Prayer  the  reference  to 
the  tempter  seems  to  be  indisputable  ;  and  in  view  of  other 
allusions  in  the  Gospels  to  '  the  evil  one,'  the  presumption 
in  favour  of  a  masculine  sense  of  the  words  tov  Trovypov  is 
very  strong.^ 

We  are  justified,  then,  in  thinking  that  Christ  here  teaches 
us  to  ask  for  deliverance  from  Satan,  as  from  one  in  whom 
'  evil '  finds  its  personal  embodiment,  who  is  the  enemy  of 
God  and  of  goodness  and  of  the  very  spirit  of  prayer.  '  All 
the  devil's  quarrels  and  assaults,'  says  a  mystical  writer, 

laedendi  arte  peritissimus.     Unde  non  tarn   malus  quam   malum 
dicitur,  a  quo  est  omne  quod  malum  est.' 

1  The  following  passages  should  be  studied  in  connexion  with 
each  other  :  Matt.  v.  37,  39  ;  vi.  13 ;  xiii.  19,  38  ;  John  xvii.  15  ; 
Eph.  vi.  II,  16  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  3  ;  i  John  ii.  13,  14  ;  iii.  12  ;  v.  18.  It 
is  a  further  point  that  the  phrase  pveaOai  nva  diri  seems  to  be 'always 
used  of  persons  in  N.T.  See  Rom.  xv.  31  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  2  ;  2  Tim. 
iv.  18. 

2  Heb.   Yetser  hard'.  3  See  above,  p.  8. 

•  For  further  details  see  the  well-known  works  of  Dr.  Taylor  and 
Bp.  Chase,  and  cp.  Lightfoot,  Notes  on  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  pp.  125, 
126. 


194      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

'  are  chiefly,  if  not  only,  against  prayer,  the  which  if  he  can 
extinguish,  he  has  all  that  he  aims  at — separating  us  from 
the  fruition  of  God  and  adhesion  to  Him,  and  therewith 
from  all  good.'  ^  At  the  same  time,  since  the  evil  principle 
manifests  itself  in  many  different  forms,  we  may  use  this 
petition  in  a  comprehensive  sense  as  a  prayer  for  deliver- 
ance from  all  that  assaults  and  hurts  the  soul,  all  that  holds 
us  back  from  God  or  endangers  our  perseverance  :  from 
the  evil  of  sin,  the  evil  of  punishment,  the  evil  that  springs 
from  a  fallen  nature  or  from  the  snares  and  deceits  of  an 
evil  world.  It  is  these ,  manifold  forms  of  evil  that  make 
life  a  warfare  upon  earth  and  a  sphere  of  temptation  in  which 
we  need  continual  help  and  protection.  We  ask  in  this 
petition  for  all  that  is  included  in  the  idea  of  '  salvation.' 


It  is  natural  to  inquire,  first,  as  to  the  exact  meaning 
of  the  '  evil '  from  which  we  seek  deliverance. 

At  the  outset  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  only  real 
'  evil '  in  the  world  is  the  evil  will.  Our  Lord  seems  ex- 
pressly to  remind  us  of  this  when  He  bids  us  pray  for  deliver- 
ance from  '  the  evil  one.'  Trouble  and  calamity,  even 
when  they  are  the  punishment  of  sin,  may  often  be  a  blessing. 
It  was  the  error  of  the  heathen  that  they  regarded  evil  as 
an  element  in  the  environment  of  man's  life,  and  not  a 
defect  in  the  man  himself.^    The  only  evil,  we  repeat,  is 

1  Fr.  Baker,  Holy  Wisdom,  §  i.,  ch.  i.  See  also  a  passage  in  The 
Practice  of  Christianity  (Macmillan),  p.  87,  in  which  the  writer  sug- 
gests that  the  suffering  which  follows  wrong  choices  on  man's  part 
'  is  educative  as  well  as  destructive,  because  it  incites  to  the  escape 
into  communion  with  God,  which  is  the  only  education.' 

2  Aug.,  de  civ.  Dei,  iii.  8,  censures  the  false  ideas  of  Paganism  on 
this  point :  '  Quasi  hoc  sit  hominis  maximum  bonum,  habere  bona 
omnia,  praeter  se  ipsum.'     Cp.  ibid.  i.  8. 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      195 

the  evil  will,  which  is  the  principle  of  sin  ;  and  certainly 
for  a  believer  in  God  '  a  monistic  interpretation  of  Evil  is  as 
necessary  as  a  monistic  interpretation  of  the  physical 
universe.'  ^  Just  as  God  is  '  the  good  '  (0  ajaOo^),  a  per- 
sonal Being  in  Whom  the  Law  of  righteousness  and  love 
is  alive  and  reigns  upon  the  throne  of  the  universe,  so  the 
primal  evil  that  appears  in  the  world  seems  to  have  its 
source  in  the  will  of  a  person.  Scripture  throws  light  on 
the  mystery  by  teaching  that  evil  had  a  pre-mundane  origin 
in  a  movement  of  rebellion  on  the  part  of  a  created  being, 
who  though  originally  good  by  nature,  abode  not  in  the 
truth,  but  misused  his  moral  freedom  by  claiming  a  false 
independence  as  against  his  Creator.  This  conception  of 
the  origin  of  evil  is  re-enforced  by  Christianity,  and  has  held 
its  ground  for  two  plain  reasons  :  first,  because  in  its  main 
outlines  it  is  expressly  sanctioned  by  the  authority  of 
Christ ;  secondly,  because  it  alone  makes  intelligible  certain 
features  in  man's  spiritual  history  and  experience.  The 
Christian  doctrine  of  Satan  stands  in  decisive  contrast  with 
the  heathen  (Manichaean)  idea  of  two  co-ordinate  beings, 
good  and  bad.  Satan  is  a  rebellious  creature  of  God : 
an  enemy  whom  the  Son  of  God  came  to  unmask  and  to 
overthrow,  and  whom  in  the  Gospels  He  identifies  with 
'  the  devil '  or  '  Satan  * :  that  adversary  who  accuses  man 
to  God  and  slanders  God  to  man.  Christ  speaks  of  this 
dread  being  as  a  murderer  from  the  beginning  ;  a  liar  and 
the  father  of  it^  He  calls  him  the  prince  of  this  world,  who 
uses  the  gifts  of  God  as  a  means  of  withdrawing  from  Him 
the  allegiance  of  His  rational  creatures.  Elsewhere  in  the 
New  Testament  '  the  evil  one  '  is  represented  as  directly 
antagonistic  in  character  to  the  Son  of  God.      Christ  is  the 

1  See  the  article  by  Mr.  Clarke,  already  referred  to,  p.  i86.     Cp. 
C.  C.  J.  Webb,  Problems  in  the  relations  of  God  and  Man,  pp.  269  foil. 

2  See  John  viii.  44,  xii.  31  ;  xiv.  30;  xvi.  11. 


196      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

Truth,  Satan  is  a  liar  ;  Christ  is  the  Life,  Satan  a  murderer  ; 
Christ  is  the  Intercessor,  Satan  the  accuser ;  Christ  is  not 
of  ike  world,  Satan  is  its  prince  ;  Christ  is  the  Saviour, 
Satan  the  destroyer  (Apollyon).  But  although  the  evil 
one  is  the  inveterate  enemy  of  God,  he  nevertheless  exercises 
power  only  by  the  permission,  and  under  the  control, 
of  his  Creator.  Against  those  who  cleave  to  God  and 
commit  themselves  whole-heartedly  to  His  care  and 
guidance,  Satan  is  powerless.  For  the  sake  of  testing 
their  faith  he  is  allowed  to  assail  them,  but  he  cannot  hurt 
their  true  life.  The  present  evil  age  is  in  a  measure  subject 
to  his  sway,  and  for  that  very  reason  abounds  in  '  evils  * 
which  God  employs  as  instruments  of  judgment  or  discipline, 
to  punish  His  foes  or  to  prove  His  elect ;  but  in  any  case 
Satan  exercises  only  a  delegated  and  limited  power.  He 
is  strong  indeed, ^  but  he  is  in  the  hand  of  One  Who  is  stronger 
than  he,  and  his  malice  is  overruled  for  good  ;  his  fierceness 
is  turned  to  God's  praise.  We  have  already  observed  that 
it  is  impossible  to  define  clearly  the  relation  of  this  mysterious 
and  formidable  being  to  the  internal  desires  and  impulses 
of  the  human  soul,  or  to  that  perverted  order  of  things — 
that  false  nature,  antagonistic  to  the  will  of  God — which  we 
call  '  the  world.'  But  it  is  certain  that  there  lies  behind 
the  different  sources  of  temptation — the  desires  of  the  flesh 
and  the  allurements  of  the  world — an  evil  will,  in  other 
words,  a  personal  enemy,  who  is  the  ruler  and  representa- 
tive of  an  organized  kingdom  of  wickedness.  ^    Moreover, 

1  Mark  iii.  22  (6  i(Tx^p6s).  On  the  divine  limitation  and  control 
of  Satan's  power,  see  a  fine  passage  in  TertuUian,  de  fuga  in  perse- 
cutione,  ii. 

*  Eph.  vi.  12.  It  seems  impossible  to  believe  that  in  His  refer- 
ences to  evil  spirits  our  Lord  was  either  Himself  deceived,  or  was 
purposely  accommodating  Himself  to  the  beliefs  of  His  contempo- 
raries. He  spoke  of  what  He  knew  ;  and  even  the  perversions  and 
distortions  which  His  teaching  has  undergone  in  popular  theology 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      197 

there  are  temptations  which  are  only  explicable  when  they 
are  regarded  as  direct  suggestions  made  to  the  human  mind 
by  an  evil  being :  wicked  thoughts  and  shameful  blasphemies ; 
voices  of  unbelief  and  despair  urging  us  to  rebellion  against 
God  ;  impulses  to  malignant  cruelty  or  to  cold-blooded 
deceit  which  contradict  the  entire  tendency  of  our  character. 
It  is  true  that  men  are  apt  by  yielding  constantly  to  tempta- 
tion to  render  themselves  specially  liable  to  these  '  devilish  ' 
impulses  and  suggestions.  But  in  view  of  those  startling 
and  exceptional  portents  of  wickedness  with  which  we 
sometimes  meet  in  the  course  of  life,  the  most  reasonable 
view  is  that  which  the  teaching  of  Christ  expressly  sanctions, 
namely,  that  the  enemy  from  whom  we  seek  deliverance 
is  a  personal  being,  ever  antagonistic  to  God  and  goodness, 
purposed  to  overthrow  our  goings,  and  striving  by  every 
means  to  draw  human  wills  into  rebellion  against  truth 
and  light.  The  closing  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  reminds 
us  that  the  relentless  hostility  of  this  subtle  spiritual  foe 
is  a  permanent  fact  of  human  experience,  not  to  be  forgotten 
or  made  light  of  except  at  our  infinite  peril. 

But  there  are  other  conditions  of  life  in  this  present  world 
that  are  '  evil '  in  the  sense  that  they  actually  are,  or  may 
easily  become,  a  real  hindrance  to  the  soul  of  man  in  its 
ascent  to  God.^  St.  Bernard  mentions,  as  instances,  those 
bodily  needs — the  need  of  food  and  sleep — which  often 
hinder  devotion ;  faults  of  character  and  temperament, 
such  as  levity,  or  motions  of  impatience,  vanity,  envy  and 
other  sins  of  infirmity  ;  worldly  prosperity  on  the  one  hand 
and  adversity  on  the  other,  weighing  down  the  soul  with 
cares  and  distractions  ;    our  own  perilous  ignorance,  which 

bear  witness  to  real  facts  of  the  spiritual  world  which  cannot  other- 
wise be  adequately  explained. 

^  Cyprian,  de  or  at.  Dom.,  xxvii.  says  that  the  word  '  evil '  comprises 
'  adversa  cuncta  quae  contra  nos  in  hoc  mundo  mohtur  inimicus.' 


198      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

hinders  us  from  knowing  how  to  act  or  even  what  to  ask 
in  prayer  ;  the  companionship  of  false  brethren,  who  by 
persuasion  or  example,  by  flattery  or  detraction,  hinder  or 
divert  us  from  the  service  of  God.^  It  is  evils  of  this  kind 
which  St.  Paul  has  in  mind  when  he  cries,  Who  shall  deliver 
me  out  of  the  body  of  this  death  ?  and  of  which  our  Lord 
seems  to  speak  comprehensively  as  the  evil  of  the  day.  Christ, 
indeed,  does  not  teach  us  to  pray  '  that  God  will  deliver 
us  from  them  absolutely,  but  from  that  evil  which  is  in 
them  ;  and  in  this  sense  we  may  pray  to  be  delivered  a  mala 
pants,  "  from  the  evil  of  plenty,"  as  well  as  a  malo  famis, 
"  from  the  evil  of  scarcity  "  ;  for  bread,  which  of  itself  is 
good,  may  turn  to  our  hurt.'  ^ 

It  is  thus  evident  that  all  conditions  of  life  are  apt  to  be 
'  evil,'  not  in  themselves,  but  in  their  relation  to  the  weak- 
ness and  imperfection  of  mankind.  Like  the  petition  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation,  the  prayer  Deliver  us  from  evil  is  the 
utterance  of  humility  and  self-distrust.  We  echo  the 
frequent  cry  of  the  righteous  man  in  the  Psalter  ;  ^  the  cry 
of  him  who,  in  view  of  the  perils  of  life  in  a  sinful  world, 
places  himself  without  reserve  in  the  protecting  hand  of 
God,  imploring  deliverance  from  deceitful  men  and  workers 
of  iniquity,  from  persecutors  and  cruel  foes,  but  above  all 
from  transgression  and  its  train  of  bitter  consequences  ; 
from  the  mire  of  sin  and  the  deep  waters  of  despondency 
and  fear.  In  effect,  then,  we  may  regard  this  petition  as 
a  prayer  for  deliverance  from  the  evil  which  has  come  into 
the  world  through  sin  :  from  evil  in  ourselves  ;  from  hard- 
ness of  heart,  waywardness  or  weakness  of  will,  defilement 

*  Bern.,  in  Septuag.  serin,  i.  4.     Cp.  Rom.  vii.  24. 

*  Sermons  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  attributed  to  Bp.  Andrewes,  No. 
xvii. 

3  Note  the  extraordinary  frequency  in  the  Psalter  of  the  depreca- 
tion '  Deliver  me  '  or  '  dehver  us.' 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      199 

or  entanglement  of  conscience,  pollution  of  memory  or 
imagination,  vexation  of  spirit,  confusion  of  mind,  reck- 
lessness and  despair  ;  from  the  power  of  the  enemy  ;  from  final 
impenitence  and  separation  from  God.  Augustine  surely 
goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter  when  he  interprets  the  clause 
as  meaning  Deliver  us  from  ourselves.'^  For  in  proportion 
as  we  forsake  ourselves  and  find  refuge  in  Christ,  we  learn 
by  experience  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God. 

II    . 

The  prayer  for  deliverance  from  the  evil  one  may  be 
regarded  as  an  act  of  faith  in  the  reality  of  the  divine  victory 
over  evil.  Jesus  Christ  revealed  Himself  not  only  as  the 
antagonist  but  as  the  conqueror  of  Satan.  The  prince  of 
this  world  came  and  had  nothing  in  Him.  Satan  was  the 
strong  man  armed  but  the  Stronger  than  he  had  overcome 
him  and  spoiled  his  house. ^  The  joy  of  redemption  is  an 
object  of  future  hope  :  we  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemp- 
tion ;  but  redemption  is  also  a  present  fact  of  experience. 
Satan  is  already  overthrown,  already  bound.  He  assails 
men,  not  in  virtue  of  his  own  power,  but  by  the  permission 
of  his  Creator.  He  is  already  judged  and  cast  out,^  and 
prayer  disarms  and  controls  him.  The  elect  are  secure 
in  God's  keeping  :  hid  with  Christ  in  God :  kept  safely  by 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  a  salvation  ready  to  be 
revealed  in  the  last  timeA    We  know,  says  St.  John,  that 

1  Aug.,  serm.  clxxxii.  4,  5  :  '  Quid  est  Libera  nos  a  malo  ?  Nonne 
possemus  et  possumus  haec  verba  dicere  Libera  nos  a  tenebris  ? 
A  quibus  tenebris  ?  A  nobis  ipsis,  si  quae  in  nobis  sunt  reliquiae 
tenebrarum,  donee  in  totum  lux  efficiamur,  nihil  habentes  in  nobis 
quod  resistat  caritati,  quod  repugnet  veritati,  quod  subjaceat 
infirmitati,  quod  conditione  mortalitatis  deficiat.' 

2  John  xiv.  30  ;    Matt.  xii.  29. 

3  John  xii.  31;  xvi.  11.  *  i  Pet.  i.  5. 


200     THE  RULE  OF   WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

whosoever  is  begotten  of  God  sinneth  not :  but  He  that  was 
begotten  of  God  keepeth  him,  and  the  evil  one  toucheth  him  not.''- 
The  Christian  is  the  object  of  a  relentless  and  vigilant  hos- 
tility :  but  he  has  a  Guardian  Who  upholds  him,  through 
Whose  grace  he  reaps  the  fruits  of  a  victory  already  achieved. 

He,  then,  who  offers  this  petition  pledges  himself  to  use 
faithfully  all  available  means  of  union  with  Christ ;  by  a 
sustained  effort  of  will  he  must  cleave  to  God ;  through 
recollection,  thanksgiving  and  earnest  prayer ;  through 
steadfast  persistence  in  well-doing  and  ever-renewed  dedica- 
tion of  the  will ;  through  mortification  of  desire  and  detach- 
ment from  the  world  ;  through  devout  and  thankful  recep- 
tion of  the  Eucharistic  gift.  It  is  only  by  sharing  St.  Paul's 
disciplined  life  that  we  can  come  to  share  his  confidence  : 
The  Lord  will  deliver  me  from  every  evil  work,  and  will  save 
me  unto  His  heavenly  kingdom.^ 

For  the  deliverance  which  we  seek  is  vouchsafed  in  Christ 
the  eternal  Son,  Who  sets  us  free  from  the  thraldom  of  Satan, 
Against  the  subtilty  of  the  serpent  we  are  protected  by 
Christ,  Who  is  the  Wisdom  of  God  ;  against  the  violence 
of  the  devouring  lion  we  are  armed  by  Christ,  the  Power 
of  God.  In  Christ  we  have  liberty,  security,  enlightenment, 
peace.  We  are  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption 
into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God.  Calling 
on  God  with  true  hearts  as  Father,  we  experience  His  faith- 
fulness as  Saviour ;  His  power  to  use  evil  for  His  own  pur- 
poses, and  to  overrule  for  good  even  that  which  violates 
His  holy  law.^ 

1  I  John  V.  1 8.  2  2  Tim.  iv.  i8. 

3  Aug.,  de  civ.  Dei,  xi.  17  :  '  Deus,  sicut  naturarum  bonarum 
optimus  creator  est,  ita  malarum  voluntatum  j  ustissimus  ordinator ; 
ut  cum  male  illae  utuntur  naturis  bonis,  ipse  bene  utatur  etiam 
voluntatibus  malis  ' ;  and  23  :  '  Nee  mala  voluntas,  quae  naturae 
ordinem  serrare  noluit,  ideo  justi  Dei  leges  omnia  bene  ordinantis 
effugit.' 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      201 

III 

Regarded  as  an  intercession,  this  petition  is  of  infinite 
range.  We  offer  it  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  each 
of  whom  is  subject  to  evils  from  which  he  needs  deliverance. 

The  Puritans  of  the  sixteenth  century  criticized  the 
Litany  as  deprecating  dangers  which,  they  said,  '  are 
nothing  near  us.'  They  regarded  it  as  an  '  abuse  '  of  prayer 
that  supplications  in  this  form  should  have  '  crept  into 
the  Church.'  ^  Hooker's  answer  to  this  contention  is 
worthy  of  his  large-hearted  wisdom  and  piety.  He  reminds 
his  opponents  that  experience  shows  how  suddenly  men 
are  apt  to  be  overtaken  by  calamities  which  they  might 
'  in  regard  of  times  or  circumstances  imagine  to  be  furthest 
off ' ;  and  he  proceeds  to  ask,  '  If  we  for  ourselves  had  a 
privilege  of  immunity,  doth  not  true  Christian  charity  require 
that  whatsoever  any  part  of  the  world,  yea,  any  one  of  all 
our  brethren  elsewhere  doth  either  suffer  or  fear,  the  same 
we  account  as  our  own  burden  ?  '  ^  In  days  like  our  own, 
when  intelligence  from  every  part  of  the  earth  is  transmitted 
so  rapidly  and  so  constantly,  Hooker's  words  gain  additional 
force.  But  from  the  earliest  times,  in  its  Eucharistic  inter- 
cessions, the  Church  has  commended  to  God  in  trustful 
faith  the  needs  and  sorrows  of  all  men  everywhere.  '  Thou 
art  He  that  loosest  them  that  are  bound,  and  liftest  up 
them  that  are  cast  down,  the  Hope  of  the  hopeless,  the  Help 
of  the  helpless,  the  Comfort  of  the  weak-hearted,  the  Har- 
bour of  the  tempest-tost.  To  every  soul  that  is  in  affliction 
and  that  is  oppressed,  give  mercy,  give  rest,  give  refreshment, 
give  help.'  ^    This  is  a  typical  form  of  intercession,  and  it 

1  T.  Cartwright  ap.  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.,  v.  41,  note. 

•  Eccl.  Pol.,  V.  41,  4. 

3  Liturgy  of  the  Coptic  Jacobites  (Brightman,  Liturgies  Eastern 
and  Western,  p.  62).  Cp.  passages  in  other  liturgies,  Brightman, 
pp.  62,  126,  127,  etc. 


202      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

comes,  as  it  were,  from  the  very  heart  of  the  Church,  which 
surveys  the  great  mass  of  suffering  humanity  with  the  keen 
eye  of  pastoral  compassion  and  commends  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  to  the  fatherly  mercy  of  their  Creator. 
We  may  think  of  this  petition,  once  more,  as  offered  on 
behalf  of  mankind  by  those  who  have  passed  beyond  the 
veil.  In  the  Purgatorio  Dante  represents  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  as  saying  the  Lord's  Prayer  on  behalf  of  themselves 
and  of  the  living.  In  reference  to  the  concluding  petition, 
they  say  : — 

'  This  last  petition,  dearest  Lord,  is  made 
Not  for  ourselves,  since  that  were  needless  now. 
But  for  their  sakes  who  after  us  remain.'  i 

We  cannot  doubt  that  the  departed  intercede  for  the  living 
with  that  deeper  insight  which  love  imparts.  '  We  must 
suppose,'  writes  Origen,  '  that  the  saints  who  have  fallen 
asleep  bear  love  towards  those  who  are  still  engaged  in  life's 
warfare,  in  far  higher  degree  than  do  they  who,  like  our- 
selves, are  still  subject  to  human  infirmity.'  ^  Doubtless 
they  aid  us  with  their  prayers,  and  hasten  the  day  for  which 
Creation  waits,  when  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  nor 
mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain,  but  God  shall  make  all 
things  new.^ 

IV 

The  experience  of  godly  men  in  every  age  of  history  has 
borne  witness  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  petition  Deliver  us 
from  evil.  In  the  Psalter,  for  instance,  thanksgiving  for 
deliverance  is  not  less  frequent  than  the  cry  for  deliverance. 

1  Purgatorio,  canto  xi,  11.  22-25  (tr-  Cary)— « 

'  Quest '  ultima  preghiera,  Signer  Caro, 
Gia  non  si  fa  per  noi,  che  non  bisogna, 
Ma  per  color  che  dietro  a  noi  restaro.' 

2  De  orat.  xi.  2.  ^  Rev.  xxi.  4,  5. 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      203 

Almighty  God  is  continually  manifesting  His  power  to 
remove  or  avert  the  evils  and  calamities  which  burden  the 
hearts  and  embitter  the  lives  of  His  faithful  servants. 
Even  in  deaUng  with  those  who  sin  against  Him  or  neglect 
to  serve  Him  He  tempers  His  righteous  displeasure  with 
mercy.  He  provides  remedies  and  compensations  for 
affliction  ;  He  overrules  evil  for  good ;  He  brings  to  light 
the  fruitfulness  and  blessedness  of  pain  and  sorrow ;  He 
teaches  men  to  see  that  it  is  good  for  them  that  they  have 
been  in  trouble.  ^  Accordingly,  in  an  epistle  devoted  to 
the  subject  of  prayer, ^  Augustine  is  led  to  dwell  upon  the 
uses  of  adversity,  whether  for  exercising  patience,  testing 
faith,  or  healing  faults  of  character.  He  points  out  that 
the  teachings  of  experience  should  make  us  hesitate  to  ask 
too  fervently  for  deliverance  from  tribulation.  We  do 
indeed  yield  to  a  natural  instinct  when  we  ask  for  such 
deliverance,  but  as  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for 
as  we  ought,  so  there  should  be  a  certain  reserve  or  restraint 
in  deprecating  calamity  :  there  should  be  a  readiness  to 
believe  that  patient  endurance  of  evils  may  secure  for  us 
an  ampler  blessing  than  exemption  from  them.  He  points 
to  our  Lord's  prayer  in  Gethsemane  as  the  true  form  which 
our  petitions  should  take  ;  and  whatever  be  the  answer 
to  our  request — whether  we  are  delivered  from  some  threat- 
ened evil  or  not — we  are  to  be  patient  and  to  give  God 
thanks,  assured  that  in  accepting  His  will  we  are  embracing 
our  highest  good.  For,  indeed,  just  as  the  true  good  of 
men  does  not  consist  in  earthly  blessings,  so  the  calamities, 
distresses  and  privations  that  befall  them  in  life  are  not 
strictly  to  be  accounted  evil.  They  are  only  evil  in  so  far 
as  they  have  their  origin  in  human  sin,  or  in  so  far  as  they 
tempt  us  to  fretfulness,  rebellion  and  distrust.  We  learn, 
in  fact,  from  such  a  passage  as  Daniel  iii.  17  what  should  be 

1  Ps.  cxix.  71.     "  Epist.  cxxx.  ad  Probam,  esp.  chh.  25,  26. 


204      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

the  temper  of  God's  servants  when  called  to  suffer  :  If 
it  he  so,  our  God  Whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from 
the  burning  fiery  furnace  ;  but  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee, 
0  king,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods.  The  words  if  not 
bear  witness  to  the  faith  of  the  three  martyrs  that  they 
will  find  deliverance,  if  not  from  the  flame  of  the  furnace, 
yet  from  evil — the  evil  of  doubt,  of  fear,  of  distrust. 

It  is  natural,  perhaps,  in  considering  the  divine  response 
to  this  petition,  to  connect  with  it  the  thought  of  the  minis- 
try of  angels.^  This  is  a  subject  on  which  we  are  bound  to 
speak  with  great  reserve,  but  at  least  we  are  justified  in 
believing  that  the  existence  and  activity  of  the  angels  is 
revealed  for  our  comfort  and  support  in  view  of  the  bodily 
and  spiritual  perils  that  encompass  us.  We  may  believe 
that,  in  part  at  least,  our  deliverance  from  evil,  of  whatever 
kind,  is  accomplished  through  the  agency  of  ministering 
spirits  sent  forth  to  do  service  for  the  sake  of  them  that 
shall  inherit  salvation.'^ 

It  is  a  consequence  of  that  union  of  heaven  and  earth 
which  the  divine  Incarnation  involves,  that  the  Christian 
is  brought  into  vital  connexion  and  communion  with  a 
whole  world  of  spiritual  beings  and  forces.  By  his  bodily 
organism  man  is  linked  to  creatures  below  him  in  the  scale 
of  being ;  by  his  spiritual  faculties  he  is  united  to  beings 
above  him  :  to  angels,  glorified  saints  and  the  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect.  The  centre  of  that  invisible  world 
is  God ;  His  throne  is  encompassed  by  a  host  of  blessed 
and  glorious  beings  who  worship  with  us  and  render  with 
us  their  creaturely  service  to  the  Most  High.     Now,  for 

1  As  in  the  primitive  Egyptian  Liturgy  of  Sarapion  (c.  350),  in 
which  the  '  Invocation  '  is  followed  by  the  prayer, '  Let  this  people 
receive  mercy  ;  .  .  .  let  angels  be  sent  forth  as  companions  to  the 
people  for  bringing  to  naught  of  the  evil  one  and  for  establishment 
of  the  Church  '  (Bp.  Wordsworth's  transl.,  p.  64). 

2  Heb.  i.  14. 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      205 

faith,  it  suffices  to  know  that  we  are  in  the  hand  of  God : 
the  God  Who  has  made  Himself  known  to  us  in  the  Incarna- 
tion, the  Passion  and  the  Victory  of  His  only-begotten  Son  ; 
the  God  Who  has  deigned  to  visit  man  and  to  enter  into 
his  history  ;  Who  bears  the  burdens  and  heals  the  sin  of 
humanity  ;  Who  watches  over  each  single  soul  in  its  loneli- 
ness and  weakness ;  Who  marks  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  and 
numbers  the  very  hairs  of  our  heads.  The  help  that  is  done 
upon  earth,  He  doeth  it  Himself.'^  He  stoops  to  hear  the 
prayer  of  the  least  and  lowliest.  He  rescues  this  man  from 
some  hidden  perU,  comforts  that  in  some  overwhelming 
distress,  succours  another  who  is  beset  by  temptation  and 
gives  him  victory.  God  Himself,  a  heavenly  Father,  always 
and  everywhere  most  dear,  most  near  to  His  children — this 
is  the  treasure  of  faith,  the  mystery  of  divine  love  to  which 
the  Saviour  in  His  life  and  death  set  to  His  seal.  Yet  our 
Lord's  words  encourage  us  to  believe  that  there  is  a  host  of 
glorious  spirits  through  whose  agency  God  carries  on  His 
providential  governance  of  the  world.  Scripture  reveals 
to  us  their  tender  interest  in  man  :  their  reverence  for  that 
nature  which  the  divine  Son  took  upon  Himself  and  perfected 
in  merit ;  their  joy  at  the  Saviour's  birth ;  their  ministry 
to  Him  in  the  days  of  His  humiliation  and  in  the  hour  of 
His  agony.  We  find  a  vision  of  angels  associated  with  the 
solemn  triumph  of  the  Resurrection  ;  their  presence  fills 
with  light  the  empty  tomb.^  St.  Paul  describes  the  angels 
as  bending  a  reverent  and  wondering  gaze  upon  the  mystery 
of  the  redeemed  Church,  through  which  unto  the  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  places  is  made  known  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God.^    Our  Lord  Himself  speaks  of  their  joy  over 

1  Ps.  Ixxiv.  13  (P.B.). 

*  '  This,'  observes  Bp.  Andrewes,  '  the  first  news  of  angels  in  that 
place.     Blessed  angels  !  not  but  in  a  blessed  place.' 
3  Eph.  iii.  10. 


2o6      THE   RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

one  sinner  that  repenteth  ;  and  He  encourages  us  also  to 
think  of  them  as  exercising  care  and  guardianship  over  the 
little  ones  who  believe  in  Him. 

Naturally,  perhaps,  Christians  have  sometimes  been 
tempted  to  build  upon  these  statements  too  confidently, 
and  to  be  wise  beyond  what  is  written  in  regard  to  the 
ministry  of  angels.  But  at  least  we  may  be  sure  that, 
whatever  be  the  exact  function  of  these  blessed  beings  and 
their  relation  to  ourselves,  it  is  Almighty  God  Himself  Who 
through  their  ministry  watches  over  His  creatures  and 
redeems  them  from  evil.  It  is  to  the  heavenly  Father  Him- 
self, and  to  Him  alone,  that  we  commend  one  another  : 
leaving  Him,  through  agencies  and  instruments  of  His  own 
appointment,  to  succour  and  defend  us.  Certainly  the 
guardianship  of  angels  cannot  be  supposed  to  cease  when 
the  age  of  childhood  is  passed.  The  little  ones  of  whom  our 
Lord  makes  mention  include  all  child-like  souls  :  all  who 
in  meekness  and  purity  of  heart  look  continually  heaven- 
ward for  needful  guidance,  protection  and  strength,  till 
they  attain  to  the  vision  of  Him  Whose  face  their  angels 
do  always  behold.'^ 

How  this  divine  control  and  superintendence  of  human 
life  is  carried  on — whether  to  each  individual  soul  is  attached 
a  single  guardian  spirit  or  many  in  succession — we  do  not 
know.  But  we  read  in  Scripture  of  angels  as  shielding  men 
from  accident,  as  supplying  their  bodily  needs,  as  rescuing 
them  from  danger.  It  may,  of  course,  be  argued  that  lan- 
guage of  this  kind  is  not  to  be  interpreted  literally,  as  describ- 
ing matters  of  fact,  but  rather  as  suggesting  in  a  vivid  and 
pictorial  manner  the  truth  of  God's  omnipresent  care  and 
intervention  even  in  the  least  things  of  human  life.^    This, 

1  Matt,  xviii.  lo. 

-  See  a  thoughtful  sermon  (No.  xi)  in  Dr.  Skrine's  book,  Saints 
and  Worthies  (Skef&ngton,  1901).     Cp.  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Milligan 


'DELIVER  US  FROM  THE  EVIL  ONE'      207 

after  all,  is  the  point  of  real  importance.  For  our  knowledge 
of  angels — their  nature,  their  order,  their  power — is  very 
limited.  What  is  essential  to  faith  is  a  living  belief  in  a 
heavenly  Father  Who  has  ways  beyond  all  that  we  ask  or 
think  of  answering  our  prayers  for  help  and  protection  ; 
He  has  surely  revealed  to  us  the  existence  of  angels,  not 
that  we  may  render  them  undue  regard  and  reverence, 
but  that  we  may  be  confirmed  in  confidence  toward 
God,  and  encouraged  to  persevere  in  His  service  by 
the  thought  that  there  are  heavenly  beings,  fellow- 
servants  with  us  of  the  Most  High,  who  are  earnestly  watch- 
ing our  conflict,  and  are  continually  bringing  us  such  aid 
and  comfort  as  the  divine  laws  permit.  The  familiar  lines 
of  Spenser  have  seized  this   point — 

'  And  is  there  care  in  heaven  ?     And  is  there  love 
In  heavenly  spirits  to  these  creatures  base 
That  may  compassion  of  their  evils  move  ? 
There  is : — else  much  more  wretched  were  the  case 
Of  men  than  beasts.     But  O  !  th'  exceeding  grace 
Of  Highest  God  that  loves  His  creatures  so. 
And  all  His  workes  with  mercy  doth  embrace 
That  blessed  angels  He  sends  to  and  fro 
To  serve  to  wicked  man,  to  serve  His  wicked  foe. 

How  oft  do  they  their  silver  bowers  leave 

To  come  to  succour  us  that  succour  want  ! 

How  oft  do  they  with  golden  pinions  cleave 

The  flitting  skies,  like  flying  pursuivant 

Against  foul  fiends  to  aid  us  militant ! 

They  for  us  fight,  they  watch  and  duly  ward. 

And  their  bright  squadrons  round  about  us  plant ; 

And  all  for  love  and  nothing  for  reward  : 
O  why  should  heavenly  God  to  men  have  such  regard  ?  '  1 


on  Rev.  xii.  7-12  in  The  Book  of  Revelation  ('Expositor's  Bible'), 
ch.  ix. 

1  The  Faerie  Queene,  Bk.  II,  canto  8,  i  and  2. 


2o8      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND   WORSHIP 

V 

Augustine,  in  a  certain  place,  points  out  that  the  love  of 
angels  for  mankind  displays  itself  chiefly  in  this,  that  they 
yearn  to  bring  us  into  subjection  to  Him  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  V^Tiom  they  themselves  are  blessed.  ^  Their  ministry 
is  a  self-forgetful,  self-effacing  service.  In  all  time  of  our 
tribulation,  in  our  conflict  with  temptation,  and  with  the 
evils  '  which  the  devil  or  man  worketh  against  us,'  they 
would  have  us  look  for  help  and  deliverance  only  to  Him 
Whose  creatures  and  messengers  they  are.  They  would 
have  us  put  our  whole  confidence  in  His  Fatherly  compassion 
and  divine  power,  and  in  the  redeeming  virtue  of  all  those 
actions  and  sufferings  through  which  the  Word  of  God  made 
flesh  once  delivered  us  from  evil  and  will  yet  deliver.'^ 

Clamet,  clamet  homo  ad  Deum,  clamet  Libera  nos  a  male, 
ut  a  tanto  mala,  solo  Christo  vincente,  liberemur.^ 

The  cry  of  the  soul  for  deliverance  is  uttered  in  union 
with  His,  Who,  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  offered  up  prayers 
and  supplications  with  strong  crying  and  tears  unto  Him  that 
was  able  to  save  Him  from  death. ^  That  cry  prevailed  for 
Himself  :  He  was  heard  for  His  godly  fear.  Will  it  not  also 
prevail  for  His  brethren,  whose  one  desire  is  to  be  found  in 
Him,  and  to  be  conformed,  whether  in  prayer  or  suffering, 
to  His  image  and  likeness  ? 

1  de  civ.  Dei,  x.  i6. 

*  2  Cor.  i.  lo.  Cp.  the  '  deprecations  '  and  '  obsecrations  '  in 
the  Litany. 

3  Pet.  Chrys.,  serm.  iii. 

*  Heb.  V.  7. 


CHAPTER    XII 

'  FOR  THINE  IS  THE  KINGDOM,  THE  POWER  AND 
THE  GLORY,  FOR  EVER  AND  EVER.     AMEN  ' 

'  Ad  locum  unde  exeunt,  revertantur  flumina  gratiarum,  ut  iterum  fluant. 
.  .  .  Qualiter  inquis  ?  Qualiter  dicit  Apostolus  :  In  omnibus  gratias 
agentes.' — Bernard. 

THE  Doxology,  as  is  well  known,  forms  no  original 
part  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  It  is  a  conspicuous 
example  of  the  influence  of  a  liturgical  usage  which  was 
inherited  by  the  Christian  Church  from  the  synagogue.  Of 
the  numerous  doxologies  found  in  the  New  Testament,  the 
one  that  most  closely  resembles  this  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
is  the  passage  i  Peter  iv.  ii :  Whose  is  the  glory  and  the 
dominion  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen}  It  is  practically  certain 
that  the  use  of  the  Doxology  at  the  close  of  the  Prayer  was 
customary  in  sub-apostolic  times,  but  there  is  some  doubt 
as  to  its  original  form.  It  is  not  clear,  for  example,  when 
the  word  '  kingdom  '  was  introduced,  but  doubtless  it  is  to 
be  connected  with  Old  Testament  usage.  It  recalls  such 
passages  as  Psalm  cxlv.  ii  :  They  [the  saints]  shall  speak  of 
the  glory  of  Thy  kingdom  and  talk  of  Thy  power ;  and  i 
Chronicles  xxix.  ii  :  Thine,  0  Lord,  is  the  greatness  and  the 

1  Gk.  y  [prob.  Tw  6e<^,  or  possibly  Irjcrov  Xpian^]  earlv  rj  do^a  Kal  rb 
Kparos  els  tovs  alQvas  rQv  alwvuv  dfj.rjv.  The  textus  receptus  of  Matt.  vi. 
13    has  :  6'rt  (Tod  iffTLV  7)  ^affiXeia  Kali]    d6vafj.is  Kal  r]  56^a  els  Toiis  alufas  '  dfj.rjv. 

Didache,  8  has  6ti  aov  icmv  r)  SivafiLs  Kal  7]  dv^a  els  roiis  alQva.  For  a  col- 
lection of  N.T.  doxologies,  see  Westcott,  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  p. 
464.  Bp.  Chase  observes  that  the  mere  addition  of  a/x7j^  stamps 
the  doxology  as  purely  liturgical. 

209  P 


210      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

power  and  the  glory  .  .  .  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  Thou 
art  exalted  as  head  above  all.  The  reference  to  the  kingdom 
was  natural  for  those  who  knew  by  experience  that  the  reign 
of  Jehovah,  foretold  by  prophecy,  had  actually  come.  Now 
is  come  the  salvation  and  the  power  and  the  kingdom  of  our  God 
and  the  authority  of  His  Christ :  for  the  accuser  of  our  brethren 
is  cast  down.  We  give  Thee  thanks,  0  Lord  God,  the  A  Imighty, 
Which  art  and  Which  wast  ;  because  Thou  hast  taken  Thy  great 
power  and  didst  reign.'^  This  idea  seems  to  be  in  the  mind 
of  Chrysostom,  when  he  comments  on  the  context  in  which 
the  Doxology  occurs,  as  if  it  formed  an  original  and  integral 
part  of  the  Prayer  :  '  Having  mentioned  the  great  enemy,' 
he  says,  '  Christ  again  encourages  us  and  lifts  our  thoughts 
heavenward  by  naming  the  King  under  Whose  sway  we  live, 
and  shows  that  He  is  more  powerful  than  all,  saying,  Thine 
is  the  kingdom  and  the  power  and  the  glory.  Since,  then,  the 
kingdom  belongs  to  Him,  we  must  be  afraid  of  none.  For 
Satan  also  is  only  one  of  the  servants  of  God,  and  does  not 
dare  to  assail  any  of  his  fellow-servants  unless  permitted 
to  do  so.  To  God  belongs  the  power  to  order  all  things 
and  even  through  man's  agency  to  bring  them  to  a  successful 
issue.  His  also  is  the  glory.  He  does  not  exempt  His 
athlete  from  danger,  but  brings  him  through  tribulation 
to  glory  and  honour.'  ^ 

This  passage  shows  that  the  form  of  Doxology  which  is 
so  familiar  to  us  was  already  current  in  the  fourth  century.^ 
Whatever  may  be  its  history,  we  are  justified  in  regarding 
it  as  the  response  of  the  Church  to  the  teaching  of  the  Prayer  ; 
and  following  the  example  of  St.  Chrysostom,  we  may  briefly 
indicate  its  doctrinal  significance. 

1  Rev.  xii.  lo ;  xi.  17.  ^  /^  Matt.,  horn,  xix,  254  B,  C. 

3  Bp.  Chase  thinks  that  this  form  of  the  Doxology  is  a  '  confia- 
tion  '  of  two  distinct  types  of  doxology  ;  that  it  was  appended  to 
the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Syrian  text  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  and 
soon  became  the  common  and  recognized  form. 


'FOR  THINE  IS  THE  KINGDOM'  211 

I 

Two  thoughts  suggest  themselves  at  the  outset. 

1.  The  last  three  clauses  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  are  petitions 
of  the  Church  militant.  The  Doxology  forms  a  link  between 
the  present  and  the  future.  It  anticipates  the  time  when 
the  Church  will  be  triumphant  and  at  rest :  when  the 
redeemed  will  be  able  to  praise  God  because  their  prayer  is 
finally  fulfilled,  and  to  say  '  The  Kingdom  has  come  ;  the 
Father's  will  has  been  accomplished  ;  He  has  bestowed 
upon  us  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  He  has  carried  us  safely 
through  the  wilderness  of  temptation  ;  He  has  delivered 
us  from  the  evil  one.'  We  are  thus  taught  that  all  prayer 
to  God  is  to  be  quickened  and  inspired  by  hope.  The 
remembrance  of  our  many  pressing  needs  of  soul  and  body, 
of  our  sins  and  failures,  of  our  conflicts  and  perils,  might 
well  plunge  us  in  sadness  or  despondency.  The  Doxology 
summons  us  to  lift  up  our  heads,  for  our  redemption  draweth 
nigh.  We  are  to  pray  with  cheerful  confidence,  with  stead- 
fast expectation  of  good  things  to  come.  We  are  encouraged 
to  rise  above  ourselves,  our  fears  and  our  distresses,  and 
to  return  to  those  high  thoughts  of  heaven — of  divine  love 
and  might — with  which  we  entered  on  our  prayer  when 
we  said.  Our  Father,  Which  art  in  heaven.'^ 

2.  Again,  we  may  reflect  that  the  Doxology  only  gathers 
up  those  truths  which  are  implied  in  the  different  petitions 
of  ^the  Prayer.  We  have  already  implicitly  ascribed  to 
God  the  kingdom  and  the  power  and  the  glory  when  we 
call  upon  Him  as  Father,  King  and  Lord  of  all,  as  the  Author 
and  Sustainer  of  life,  as  the  Absolver  of  sin,  as  the  Leader 
and  Saviour  of  His  people.  The  Doxology  is  in  effect  an  act 
of  faith.     It  sums  up  the  grounds  of  our  confidence  in  the 

1  Cp.  Archdeacon  Wakeford,  The  Way  to  the  Father  (a  devotional 
instruction  on  the  Lord's  Prayer),  p.  102. 


212      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

power  of  prayer.  It  ascribes  to  God  those  attributes  which 
are  the  stay  of  the  soul.  It  dwells  on  the  universality  of 
His  rule,  the  boundlessness  of  His  might,  the  unchangeable- 
ness  of  His  character.  It  addresses  Him  as  One  Who  is 
able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think  ;  ^ 
to  satisfy  every  need,  to  heal  every  infirmity,  to  subdue  and 
overrule  for  good  aU  forces,  material  or  spiritual,  that  hinder 
the  fulfilment  of  His  purpose. 

II 

Thine  is  the  Kingdom. 

By  the  act  of  prayer  we  unite  ourselves  to  the  will  of  God. 
We  accept  it  as  the  law  of  life  and  the  secret  of  blessedness. 
We  desire  that  the  reign  of  God,  which  prevails  in  the  order 
of  nature,  should  also  manifest  itself  in  the  moral  sphere 
— in  the  hearts  and  wills  of  men  ;  should  extend  itself 
through  the  whole  of  human  society  and  so  gradually  trans- 
form the  condition  of  the  world.  In  Jesus  Christ  the  King- 
dom came  ;  it  was  manifested  as  a  present  and  available 
reality,  responding  to  the  wholehearted  self-dedication  of 
the  Son  of  man  to  the  service  of  God.  Prayer  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  essentially  the  soul's  consecration  of  itself  to  God. 
It  is  the  resolute  endeavour  of  the  will  to  embrace  His 
purpose  for  humanity.  It  is  an  act  of  homage  to  Him  Who 
sitteth  above  the  witer-flood  and  remaineth  a  King  for  ever.  ^ 

Thine  is  the  power. 

From  another  point  of  view  prayer  is  an  act  of  faith  in 
the  boundless  power  and  unfathomable  resources  of  God. 
In  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word  and  in  its  consequences  God 
is  revealed  in  a  pre-eminent  sense  as  6  SvvaTo^,  '  He  that  is 
mighty.'  His  power  displays  itself,  now  as  a  spirit  of  might 
in  man,  enabling  him  to  receive  and  to  apprehend  the  in- 
dwelling presence  of  Christ ;  now  as  miracle,  that  is,  creative 
1  Eph.  iii.  21.  2  ps    xxix.  lo  (P.B.). 


'FOR  THINE  IS   THE   KINGDOM'  213 

action,  modifying  or  controlling  the  outward  order  of  physical 
nature  ^ ;  now  as  divine  forbearance,  waiting  for  man's  con- 
version ;  always  and  in  any  case  as  deforce  directing  and  over- 
ruling events  towards  the  fulfilment  of  a  spiritual  and  moral 
purpose. 

Thine  is  the  glory. 

Once  more,  prayer  finds  its  warrant  and  justification  in 
the  revealed  character  of  God.  His  '  glory  '  means  the 
outward  manifestation  of  His  holiness.  It  was  displayed 
pre-eminently  in  the  humiliation  and  self-sacrifice  of  the 
eternal  Son  of  His  love.  But  it  is  continually  manifesting 
itself  in  answers  to  prayer,  in  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  in  the 
conquest  of  evil,  in  the  heahng  of  spiritual  disease,  in  the 
exaltation  of  the  meek  and  the  abasing  of  the  proud,  in 
the  judgments  which  overtake  transgression,  in  the  salva- 
tion which  crowns  the  hope  of  the  righteous.  When  we  say 
Thine  is  the  glory,  we  praise  God  for  what  He  is  :  we  express 
our  hope  of  what  shall  be.  For  He  is  bringing  many  sons 
unto  glory, ^ — to  that  perfect  and  unhindered  life  which  is 
the  fruit  of  His  own  indwelling.  For  us,  '  glory '  means 
that  state  in  which  man  will  know  God  and  worship  Him 
as  He  is  ;  will  render  Him  a  perfect  service  and  will  dwell 
with  Him  in  holy  fellowship.  But  this  '  glory '  we  look  for, 
only  as  His  own  inalienable  possession  and  as  His  crowning 
gift  to  His  creatures. 

For  ever  and  ever. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  a  kind  of  summary  of  faith's  experi- 
ence in  the  past,  but  it  carries  our  thoughts  and  desires 
onward  to  an  unending  future.  The  God  Who  in  Jesus 
reveals  Himself  as  Father,  is  the  great  Jehovah,  '  He  Who 
will  be '  :  He  Who  progressively  manifests  Himself  to 
His  people  as  the  answer  to  their  prayers  and  the  exceeding 

1  Eph.  iii.  16,  17;    i.  20.  2  Heb.  ii.   10. 


214      THE   RULE   OF  WORK   AND   WORSHIP 

great  reward  of  their  service.  Ages  yet  to  come  will  disclose 
new  riches  of  God's  grace,  new  triumphs  of  His  might,  new 
extensions  of  His  kingdom,  new  depths  of  His  kindness 
toward  us  through  Christ  Jesus.'^  The  Lord's  Prayer  is 
not  only  the  utterance  of  man's  faith  and  love  :  it  is  also 
the  voice  of  hope — anticipating  what  shall  be — what  must 
be — when  in  very  deed  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth.^ 
In  this  prophetic  hope  we  find  ourselves  united  to  the  whole 
company  of  the  faithful  who  in  every  age  have  seen  the 
promises  of  God  and  greeted  them  from  afar.^  They  were 
sustained  in  the  life  of  prayer  and  spiritual  effort  by  the 
recollection  of  the  eternal  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most 
High^  Thus  the  Doxology  strikes  the  note  of  progress 
and  advance.  It  bids  the  children  of  Israel  go  forward  ^ ; 
it  reminds  them  that  their  appointed  destiny  is  to  draw 
indefinitely  nearer  to  God  ;  to  have  their  part  in  an  unend- 
ing dominion.     They  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.^ 


Ill 

Amen. 

In  the  ordinary  usage  of  Scripture  we  find  the  word  Amen 
employed  in  at  least  three  different  ways  : — 

(i)  First,  it  is  used  as  an  assurance  or  pledge  of  the  divine 
faithfulness,  confirming  the  truth  of  the  divine  promises. 
God  is  declared  to  be  the  God  of  the  Amen,''  and  all  His 
promises  are  fulfilled  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  personal  or  living 
Amen.     With  this  significance  the  word  Amen  is  used  to 

1  Eph.  ii.  7.  2  Rev.  xix.  6.  3  Heb.  xi,  13. 

*  Ps.  Ixxvii.   10  ;    cp.  Ps.  cii.  27,  28. 

5  Exod.  xiv.   15.  ®  Rev.  xxii.  5. 

7  Isa.  Ixv.  16  :  The  God  of  truth  (R.V.).  Targum  paraphr.  The 
God  of  the  oath.  LXX.  rbv  Oebv  rbv  dX-fieivov.  Cp.  Rev.  iii.  14, 
These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness  ;  see  also 
2  Cor.  i.  20. 


'FOR  THINE  IS  THE  KINGDOM'  215 

introduce  a  statement.  In  teaching,  for  instance,  the 
doctrine  of  Baptism,  and  in  expounding  the  mystery  of 
the  Eucharistic  gift,  our  Lord  says  Amen,  Amen,  I  say  unto 
thee,  or  tmto  you.  ^  With  the  same  form  of  speech  He  bears 
witness  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  Christ,  indeed,  speaks 
with  the  authority  of  One  Who  is  the  Truth  embodied  in 
human  form.  He  Himself  is  the  Hving  pledge  that  God 
hears  and  answers  prayer,  that  He  is  true  to  His  own 
essential  nature,  that  He  cannot  deny  Himself.^  In  the 
mouth  of  His  worshippers,  on  the  other  hand,  the  word 
Amen  expresses  a  living  confidence  in  the  self -consistency 
and  dependableness  of  the  divine  character  ;  in  the  stability 
and  perpetuity  of  the  divine  kingdom.  Possibly,  this  is 
one  reason  why  the  Hebrew  word  Amen  is  retained  in  the 
churches  of  the  Gentiles.  It  testifies  to  the  fact  that  God's 
elect,  gathered  from  every  nation  of  the  earth,  form  but 
one  mystical  body,  and  that  the  God  Whom  they  worship 
is  one  and  the  same  eternal  Being,  revealing  Himself  to 
every  generation  of  men  as  the  God  of  truth, 

'  In  all  His  words  most  wonderful 
Most  sure  in  all  His  ways.'   ^ 

(2)  Again,  the  word  Amen  is  used  to  express  the  response 
of  human  will  and  desire  to  the  revealed  purpose  of  God. 
It  is  the  utterance  of  one  who  accepts  with  utter  simplicity 
the  word  of  God  and  builds  his  life  upon  it.  In  particular 
we  may  regard  the  Amen  which  closes  the  Lord's  Prayer 
as  our  response  to  that  other  Amen  with  which  Christ  ratifies 
the  promise,  //  ye  shall  ask  anything  of  the  Father,  He  will 
give  it  you  in  My  name.     It  is  the  utterance  of  faith  taking 


1  John  iii.  5  ;  vi.  32,  53.     Cp.  xvi.  23.  2  2  Tim.  ii.  13. 

3  .See  the  fine  statement  of  this  truth  in  Irenaeus,  c.  haer.  iv.  5,  i, 
and  7,  3. 


2i6      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

its  stand  securely  upon  the  faithfulness  of  God,^  and 
confiding  wholly  in  His  goodwill,  in  His  power  and  in  His 
love.  Faithful  is  He  that  calleth  you,  Who  also  will  do  it. 
By  our  use  of  the  word  Amen  we  set  our  seal  to  this,  that 
God  is  true  and  has  once  for  all  manifested  in  His  Son,  born 
for  man,  crucified,  risen  and  exalted,  the  glory  of  His  char- 
acter and  the  truth  of  His  promises.  But  our  Amen  is  not 
a  mere  verbal  assent.  It  implies,  if  we  use  it  with  sincere 
and  deliberate  purpose,  that  with  our  whole  being  we  desire 
to  respond  to  God's  claim.  For  the  truth  of  God,  His  utter 
dependableness  as  an  object  of  trust  and  devotion,  demands 
wholehearted  sincerity  in  man.  Christian  life  is  response  : 
it  is  converse  in  which  the  soul  makes  answer  to  the  voice 
of  God  and  is  answered  again.  '  The  glory  of  the  Christian 
life,'  says  a  devout  writer,  '  is  that  it  is  all  a  life  of  corre- 
spondence between  the  creature  and  the  Creator,  between 
our  emptiness  and  Christ's  fullness.  The  Christian  is  not 
more  wise  or  full  than  other  men,  but  he  is  more  conscious 
of  his  emptiness  ;  his  life  means  his  appeal  to  God  and  God's 
response  to  that  appeal.'  ^  This  sincerity  of  response  must 
colour  the  whole  of  life.  Trustworthiness  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  Christian  character,  a  necessary  element  in  the 
effort  to  imitate  God.  For  God  is  '  the  simplest  of  all 
beings,'  and  we  reflect  this  simplicity  in  ourselves  in  so  far 
as  we  speak  or  rather  ^o,  the  truth,  in  love,^  and  endeavour, 
by  showdng  mercy,  to  obtain  mercy.* 

(3)  Once  more,  we  may  think  of  the  word  Amen  as  an 

1  See  Rom.  iv.  21  ;  Heb.  x.  23  ;  xi.  11  ;  i  Thess.  v.  24  ;  John  iv.  33. 

*  Fr.  Congreve,  Christian  Life  a  Response,  serm.  i. 

3  Eph.  iv.  15,  where  Vulg.  has  veritatem  facientes  in  caritate. 

*  Augustine  says  very  beautifully  :  '  Sinceritas  autem  et  Veritas 
est,  etiam  si  proficit  aliquis,  meminisse  quid  fuerit,  et  multo  magis 
misereri  lapsorum  ;  quandoquidem  ipse  erectus  est  a  lapsu  suo  per 
Christi  misericordiam,  qui  sine  uUo  suo  peccato  se  pro  peccatoribus 
humiliavit '  [c.  epist.  Pavmen.  iii.  5). 


'FOR  THINE  IS  THE  KINGDOM'  217 

utterance  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  We  find  it  thus 
employed  on  the  hps  of  angels  in  heaven  :  Amen.  Blessing 
and  glory  and  wisdom  and  thanksgiving  and  honour  and 
power  and  might  he  unto  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen.'^ 
Each  book  of  the  Psalter — Israel's  book  of  Praises  {tehillim) 
— ends  with  an  Amen,  except  the  last,  which  closes  with 
Hallelujah.  So,  again,  the  Church  of  the  redeemed  on  earth 
ratifies  the  solemn  '  giving  of  thanks,'  which  constitutes 
its  central  and  supreme  act  of  worship,  with  the  Amen 
of  the  congregation.  2  Thanksgiving,  indeed,  is  the  crown 
and  climax  of  worship.  We  praise  God  for  all  that  He  has 
revealed  concerning  Himself;  all  that  He  has  wrought  for 
man  ;  all  that  He  has  given  ;  all  that  He  has  promised ; 
all  that  He  is  to  His  creatures.  We  bless  Him  for  the 
means  of  grace  whereby  He  unites  us  to  Himself ;  for  the 
hope  of  glory ,  that  is,  of  perfected  life,  which  is  the 
predestined  goal  of  our  pilgrimage. 

Thus,  to  use  a  familiar  image,  the  streams  of  thanksgiving 
return  to  the  ocean  of  divine  love  which  is  their  source. 
Thine  is  the  glory.  '  All  the  communications  of  Thy  good- 
ness, as  they  flow  from  Thee,  return  to  Thee  again  in  sacri- 
fices of  love,  of  praise  and  adoration.'  ^  In  saying  Amen 
we  not  only  sum  up  all  that  we  have  asked  in  our  prayer — 
we  gather  up  all  that  we  have  already  learned,  and  are  yet 
to  learn,  touching  the  heavenliness,  the  majesty,  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  wisdom  and  love  that  are  hid  in  Him 
Who  has  taught  us  to  say  Our  Father,  Which  art  in  heaven. 

Whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  in  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  the  Father  through  Him.'^ 

The  Prayer  which  we  have  been  studying  is  a  rule  not 

1  Rev.  vii.  12  ;  xix.  4.  ^  i  Cor.  xiv.  16. 

3  Bp.  Ken,  The  Practice  of  Divine  Love,  part  4,  s.  fin.  Cp.  Bern. 
in  Cant.,  xiii.  i.  *  Col.  iii.  17. 


2i8      THE  RULE  OF  WORK  AND  WORSHIP 

only  of  worship,  but  of  work.  It  is  the  divinely-taught 
response  to  truths  which  are  intended  to  be  at  once  the 
support  of  faith  and  the  rule  of  action.  It  is  in  the  Son  of 
God  incarnate  that  those  truths  are  revealed  ;  it  is  the 
Spirit  of  God  Who  glorifies  Him  by  taking  of  that  which  is 
His  and  declaring  it  to  the  faithful.^  In  Christ  are  mani- 
fested the  Kingdom,  the  power  and  the  glory  which  we 
ascribe  to  the  Father.  In  Him  the  Kingdom  is  once  for  all 
shown  to  be  the  perfect  fulfilment,  by  all  created  beings,  of 
the  divine  will ;  through  Him  is  imparted  to  the  Church 
that  power  whereby  she  is  enabled  to  wage  her  warfare  and 
to  bear  her  testimony  ;  in  Him  as  the  Only-begotten  Son  is 
revealed  the  essential  glory  of  the  divine  holiness.  Thus, 
when  we  ascribe  to  our  heavenly  Father  the  Kingdom,  the 
power  and  the  glory,  we  attribute  to  Him  that  which  is 
made  known  only  in  the  Son  of  His  Love,  that  which  we  have 
experienced  only  through  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  of 
grace.  We  acknowledge,  in  a  word,  the  glory  of  the  eternal 
Trinity. 

1  John  xvi.  14. 


APPENDIX 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 


St.  Matt.  vi.  9-13 

TlaTep  rjfiwv,  6  iv  rot?  owpavots' 
ayLacrdrJTW  to  ovofxd.  aov' 
iXOdrio  rj  ^acriXeta  aov' 
yivqOrjTOi  to  OeXrjfxd  crov, 
<I)S  iv  ovpavw  KOL  eTTL  yrjs' 

Tov  apTOv  rjfJLtjiv  tov  Ittlovctlov 
Sos  Tjixiv  arj/xepov 

Kai  acfics  rjjJilv  ra  6(f)€i.Xr] jxara  t^/awv, 
d)S  Kai  rifxels  a.cj>rJKaiJi,ev 
Tois  o^etXeTais  rj/Jiwv' 
Ktti    fir]    €L(T€viyKrjs    i^/tas   €is    Tret- 
paafioVy 
dAXa  pvaaL  r]fjia.<;  oltto  tov  irovq- 
pov' 


St,  Luke  xi.  2-4 

IlaTcp, 

dyLa(r6rJTUt  to  ovo/xd  crov 

eXddroi  r]  /^acrtXeta  crov 


TOV  apTOV  ijflWV  TOV  CTTtowcrtov 
SlSov  rjjMV  TO  KaO'  rnxepav 

KOL  a^es  rjixLV  Tas  d/xapTias  rjfxSiv, 

KOL  yap  avToi  acjao/xev 

Travrl  o^aXovTL  rjplv' 
Kttt    /A^   €io-evey/<7]S    17/Aas    €ts    Trcr 
pao'/u.dv' 


II 

From  the  Didache  ch.  viii.  [before  a.d.  150]  (with  the  varia- 
^  tions  in  St.  Matt.  vi.  noted  below). 

irdTcp  rjfxwv  6  iv  t<2  ovpavw,^ 
dyiao-OTjTU)  to  ovop-a  crou, 
iXdeTO)  7}  ^acriXeta  (vov^ 
yevrjdrJTO}  to  OiX-qfid  (tov 
ws  iv  ovpdvio  Kat  iiri  ^  yrjS' 


TOis  ovpavois. 


*    + 


TTjS. 


219 


220  APPENDIX 

Tov  apTOV  rjfitav  tov  cTrtovcrtov  80s  rjfxiv  cnqfiepov 

Kal  a(fi€<;  rjfiLV  rrjv  6(j>i(.\r}v  1  rj/xwv 

0)5  KoX  rjjxels  a(f)UfJiiv^   rots  ot/)€iA.eTais  rjfJLwv 

Koi  fXTj  €l(T€V€yKr]<;  t^/aSs  £ts  TTCipacr/AOV, 

dWa  pvcraL  rjfias  oltto  tov  irovrjpov' 

[oTi  crov  iariv      rj  8vvafJiL<i  Kal  rj  So^a 

CIS  TOWS  alwva<;  •  dp.i^v]. 

^  TO,  6(pei\i^fjLara,  *  q,(j)-qKa/Mev.  '    +  ■^  /SatrtXe/a  Kai, 

III 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem  (c.  348)  compared  with  the  Text  of 
St.  Matthew  [WH]  and  St.  Luke* 

Trarep  rj/xwv  6  iv  Tot's  owpavots 

dyLaaOr]T(j}  to  ovofxd  cov 

iXOeToj  rj  (ia(TiXi.ia  aov 

y€vr]6rJTU)  to  OeXrjixd  crou,  ws  iv  ovpav<2  Kai  Ittl  t^s  yrjv 

TOV  dpTov  Tjfxwv  TOV  iTnoxxTiov  80s  rjplv  a-qp.€pov 

Kal  at^es  rj/xLV  to.  6^£iX7^/x.aTa  rjjxwv,  ws  /cat  t^/acis 

d(^t€/i,6v  Tots  ot^etXerots  rjjxwv 

Kal  fxr]  cto-eveyKT/s  17/jtas  tts  ireipacrfxov,  [kv/sic] 

aAAa  pvcrai  rj/xas  oltto  tov  itovrjpov. 

4]  om.  Luke,  ti^s  :  om.  Matt. 

5]  80s  kt\  :  81S0V  rifxiv  to  KaO'  rjfxepav.     Luke. 

6]  Ta  0(^etXi7/i,aTa ;   Tas  ajaapnas'      Luke. 

—  tos  Kat  7]p,u<i  '.   Kai  yap  avToi.     Luke. 

7]   a(f)iefxcv  '  a(f>rjKa[jiev  Matt,  acjuo/xev  Luke. 

Tots  o^etXcTais  17/Acov :  TravTt  o<^€tXovTt  77/xtv  Luke. 

IV 

From  the  Latin  Fathers  and  Versions 

(i)  TertulUan 

Pater  qui  in  coelis  es,  Sanctificetur  nomen  tuum : 
Fiat  voluntas  tua  in  coelis  et  in  terra 

*  The  form  commented  on  by  St.  Cyril  corresponds  exactly  with 
that  which  appears  in  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James  (West  Syrian).  See 
Brightman,  Liturgies  Eastern  and  Western,  p.  60. 


APPENDIX  221 

Veniat  Regnum  tuum: 

Panem  nostrum  quotidianum  da  nobis  hodie 

[Et]  dimitte  nobis  debita  nostra 

[Sicut  et]  remittimus^  nos  debitoribus  nostris 

[Et]  ne  nos  inducas  in  tentationem 

Sed  evehe  nos  a  malo. 

(2)  Cyprian 

Pater  noster  qui  es  in  coelis 

Sanctificetur  nomen  tuum 

Adveniat  regnum  tuum 

Fiat  voluntas  tua  sicut  in  coelo  et  in  terra 

Panem  nostrum  quotidianum  da  nobis  hodie 

Et  remitte  nobis  debita  nostra,  sicut  et  nos  remittimus  debitoribus 

nostris 
Et  ne  nos  patiaris  induci  in  tentationem 
Sed  libera  nos  a  malo. 

(3)  Augustine  [ep.  cxxx.) 

Paternoster  qui  es  in  coelis 

Sanctificetur  nomen  tuum 

Adveniat  regnum  tuum 

Fiat  voluntas  tua  sicut  in  coelo  et  in  terra 

Panem  nostrum  quotidianum  ^  da  nobis  hodie 

Et  dimitte  nobis  debita  nostra  sicut  et  nos  dimittimus  debitoribus 

nostris 
Et  ne  nos  inferas  ^  in  tentationem 
[Sed]  libera  nos  a  malo. 

(4)  The  Lord's  Prayer  from  codex  Bobiensis  (k) — a  fifth  century 
MS.  now  preserved  at  Turin,  but  said  to  have  belonged 
to  St.  Columban,  the  founder  of  the  monastery  of  Bobbio  ; 
'  perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  O.L.  MSS.'  (E. 
Nestle).  The  MS.  contains  only  fragments  of  St.  Matthew 
and  St.  Mark. 

1   ?  remittemus  (remittere  profitemur,  de  or  at.  vii.). 

*  supersubstantialem  (Vulg.).  3  inducas  (Vulg.). 


222  APPENDIX 

Pater  noster  qui  es  in  caelis  sanctificetur  nomen  tuum  ueniad 
regnum  tuum  fiat  voluntas  tua  in  caelo  et  in  terra  panem  nostrum 
cottidianum  da  nobis  hodie  et  remitte  nobis  debita  nostra  sicut 
et  nos  remittimus  debitoribus  nostris  et  ne  passus  fueris  induci 
nos  in  temptatione  set  libera  nos  a  malo  quoniam  est  tibi  uirtus 
in  saecula  saeculoru. 

2]  ueniad:    adueniat  (b)  (q). 

3]  in  caelo :    Sicut  in  caelo  et  in  terra  (gi)  (q) . 

4,  5]  remitte  .  .  .  remittimus :    dimitte  .  .  ,  dimittimus  (gi), 

dimitte  .  .  .  remittimus  (b) :  remitte  .  .  .  dimittimus  (q). 

5,  6]  ne  passus,  etc.  :  ne  inducas  nos  (g^)  (q),  ne  nos  inducas  (b). 
7]  quoniam,  etc.  :   quoniam  tuum  est  regnum  et  uirtus  et  gloria 

in  saecula  (gi)  (q). 

(5)  The  Lord's  Prayer  (Luke  xi.)  from  codex  Corbeiensis  (ffj), 
containing  the  Gospels  with  some  lacunae  (including  Matt, 
vi.)  ;    probably  belonging  to  the  sixth  century. 

Pater  sancte  qui  in  cells  est  sanctificetur  nomen  tuum  ueniat 
regnum  tuum  fiat  uoluntas  tua  sicut  in  celo  et  in  terra  panem 
nostrum  cottidianu  da  nobis  hodie  et  dimitte  nobis  debita  nostra 
sicut  et  nos  dimittimus  debitoribus  nostris  et  ne  nos  inducas 
in  temptatione  sed  libera  nos  a  malo. 
i]  sancte:    noster  (q)  (b). 

est :    es  (q)  es  in  caelis  (b). 
4]  hodie :    cottidie  (q). 
5]  debita:    peccata  (q). 

sicut:    quomodo  et  ipsi  dimittimus  omni  debenti  nobis  (q). 
7]  a  malo:    ab  inimico  (b).i 


(6)  The  Lord's  Prayer  from,  the  Vulgate  (Matt.) 

Pater  noster  qui  es  in  caehs 
sanctificetur  nomen  tuum 
adveniat  regnum  tuum 

^  The  other  Old  Latin  versions  collated  above  are  cod.  h, 
veronensis  (of  fourth  or  fifth  century),  gj,  sangermanensis  (ninth 
century),  q,  Mofiacensis  (sixth  or  seventh  century). 


APPENDIX  223 

fiat  voluntas  tua    sicut  in  caelo  et  in  terra 
panem  nostrum  supersubstantialem  da  nobis  hodie 
et  dimitte  nobis  debita  nostra,  sicut  et  nos 
dimittimus  debitoribus  nostris 
et  ne  nos  inducas  in  tentationem 
sed  libera  nos  a  malo.    Amen. 

(Luke  xi.) 

Pater,  sanctificetur  nomen  tuum 
adveniat  regnum  tuum 

panem  nostrum  quotidianum  da  nobis  hodie 
et  dimitte  nobis  peccata  nostra  siquidem  et  ipsi 
dimittimus  omni  debenti  nobis.  Et  ne  nos  inducas  in  tentationem. 


V 

(i)  Early  Version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  from  The  Ayenhite 
of  Inwyt  ('  Remorse  of  Conscience  ')  of  Dan  Michel  of 
Northgate  (Kent)  :  c.  1340  [edited  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society  by  Dr.  Morris  in  1866] 

Vader  oure  J)et  art  ine  heuenes  :  y-hal5ed  by  J)i  name  :  co- 
minde  f)i  riche  :  y-worJ)e  J)i  wil  as  ine  heuene  and  ine  erjje^ 
bread  oure  echedayes  yef  ous  to-day.  and  uorlet  ous  oure 
yeldinges,  ase  and  we  uor-letej)  oure  yelderes  :  and  ne  ous  led 
na3t  in-to  uondinge.  ac  vri  ous  vram  queade.  zuo  by  hit. 

Other  Versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  [see  Maskell,  Monu- 
menta  Ritualia  Eccl.  Anglicanae  (1846),  vol.  ii.  pp.  238,  239] 

(2)  From  a  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century 

Fader  oure  that  art  in  heve,  i-halgeed  bee  thi  nome,  i-cume 
thi  kinereiche,  y-worthe  thi  wylle  also  is  in  hevene  so  be  on 
erthe,  oure  iche-dayes-bred  3if  us  to  day,  and  for3if  us  oure 
gultes,  also  we  for3ifet  oure  gultare,  and  ne  led  ows  nowth  into 
fondingge,  auth  ales  ows  of  harme.     So  be  it. 


224  APPENDIX 

(3)  From  a  MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century 

Fader  oure  that  art  in  heuene,  halwed  be  thi  name,  come 
thi  kyngdom  :  fulfild  be  thi  wil  in  heuene  as  in  erthe  :  oure 
ech  day  bred  5ef  us  to  day,  and  for5eue  us  oure  dettes  as  we 
for5eueth  to  oure  dettoures  :  and  ne  led  us  nouj  in  temptacion, 
bote  dehuere  us  of  euel.    So  be  it. 


(4)  The  Lord's  Prayer  from  Wyclif's  Translation  [circ. 

1382) 

[St.  Matthew) 

Oure  Fadir  that  art  in  hevenes, 

halwid  be  thi  name, 

thi  kyngdom  cumme  to 

be  thi  wille  don  as  in  heven  and  in  erthe ; 

3if  to  us  this  day  oure  breed  over  other  substaunce ; 

and  for3ive  to  us  oure  dettis  as  we  forjeve  to  oure 

dettours  ;    and  leede  us  nat  into  temptacioun, 

but  delyvere  us  fro  yvel.     Amen. 


{St.  Luke) 

Fadir,  halewid  be  thi  name 

Thi  kyngdom  come  to 

5yve  to  us  to  day  oure  eche  dayes  breed 

And    for55rve   to  us    our    synnes   as   we   for^yven   to   eche 

owynge  to  us. 
And  leed  not  us  into  temptacioun. 

(5)  From  a  Prymer  of  the  Fifteenth  Century. 

Oure  Fadir,  that  art  in  heuenes,  halewid  be  thi  name  :  thy 
rewme  come  to  thee  :  be  thi  wiUe  do  as  in  heuene  and  in  erthe  : 
oure  eche  dales  breed  jyue  us  to  day ;  and  for3yue  us  oure 
dettis,  as  and  we  for5euen  to  oure  dettouris,  and  ne  lede  us  into 
temptacioun  :    but  delyuere  us  fro  yuel.     So  be  it. 


APPENDIX 


225 


(6)  T.  Matthew's  Bible  (1537) 


Si.  Matthew 

O  oure  Father  which  arte  in 

heven  halowed  by  thy  name 
Let  thy  kingdome  come 
Thy  will  be  fulfylled  as  well  in 

erth  as  it  is  in  heven 
Geve  us  this  daye  oure  dayly 

bred 
And  forgeve  us  oure  treaspases 
even  as  we  forgeve  oure  tres- 

pacers 
And  leade  us  not  into  tempta- 

cion ;     but    delyver   us    fro 

evyll 
For  thyne  is  the  kyngedome 

and    the    power    and    the 

glorye  for  ever.       Amen. 


St.  Luke 

0  oure  Father  which  arte  in 
heaven  halowed  be  thy  name 

Thy  kyngdome  come 

Thy  will  be  fulfylled  even  in 
erth  as  it  is  in  heaven 

Oure  dayly  breed  geve  us  ever- 
more 

And  forgeve  us  oure  synnes 

For  even  we  forgeve  every 
man  yt  trespaseth  us 

And  leade  us  not  into  tempta- 
cion  but  delyver  us  fro 
evyll. 


(7)  The  Great  Bible  (1539) 
[The  Bible  in  Englyshe,  etc.,  printed  by  Edwarde  Whitchurch] 


Oure    Father   whych    arte   in 

heaven,  halowed  be  thy  name 
Let  thy  kyngdome  come 
Thy  wyll  be  fulfylled  as  wel 

in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven 
Geve  us  thys  days  oure  dayly 

breade 
And  forgeve  us  oure  dettes  as 

we  forgeve  our  detters 

And  lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
cion  but  del3rver  us  from  evel. 

For  thyne  is  the  kyngdome 
and  the  power  and  the 
glorye  for  ever.     Amen. 


O  oure  Father  whyche  art  in 

heaven  halowed  be  thy  name 
Thy  kyngdome  come 
Thy  wyl  be  fulfylled,  even  in 

earth  also  as  it  is  in  heaven 
Our    daylye   breade   geve    us 

thys  daye 
And  forgeve  us  our  synnes,  for 

even  we  forgeve  every  man 

that  trespasseth  us 
And  leade  us  not  into  tempta 

tion 
But  del57ver  us  from  evell. 


Q 


226 


APPENDIX 


(8)  The  Bishops'  Bible  (1568) 


St.  Matthew 

O   our   Father   which    art   in 

heaven 
Halowed  be  thy  name 
Let  thy  kyngdome  come 
Thy  wyll  be  done  as  well  in 

earth  as  it  is  in  heaven 
Geve  us  this  day  our  dayly 

breade 
And  forgeve  us  our  dettes 

as  we  forgeve  our  detters 

And  leade  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion but  delyver  us  from 
evyll 

For  thyne  is  the  kyngdome, 
the  power  and  the  glory  for 
ever.    Amen. 


St.  Luke 

0    our   Father   which   art   in 

heaven 
Halowed  be  thy  name 
Thy  kyngdome  come 
Thy  wyll  be  fulfyUed  even  in 

earth  also  as  it  is  in  heaven 
Our  dayly  breade  geve  us  this 

day 
And  forgeve  us  our  synnes,  for 

even  we  forgeve  every  man 

that  trespasseth  us 
And  leade  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion  but    delyver   us    from 

evyll. 


(9)  From  the  Rheims  (English)  Version  (1582) 
St.  Matthew 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven 

Hallowed  be  thy  name 

Thy  kingdom  come 

Thy  wiU  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven 

Give  us  this  day  our  supersubstantial  bread 

And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  also  forgive  our  debtors 

And  lead  us  not  into  temptation 

But  deliver  us  from  evil.     Amen. 


St.  Luke 

Father,  hallowed  be  thy  name 

Thy  kingdom  come 

Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread 

And  forgive  us  our  sins  for  we  also 

forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us 

And  lead  us  not  into  temptation. 


APPENDIX  227 

VI 

Exposition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  taken  from  the  Lay 
Folks'  Catechism  (an  adaptation  of  Archbishop  Thoresby's 
Catechism  put  forth  in  1357,  '  probably  from  the  hand  of 
the  reformer  [John  Wychf]  himself  ')  ^ 

Our  fadyr  that  art  in  heuyn  :    halwyd  be  thy  name. 

In  whyche  wordys  we  mow  lerne  that  men  worthy  to  be  herd 

must  be  knyt  in  charite  and  meknese  of  herte : 

sythen  al  the  holy  trinite  ys  fa^yr  of  us  alle 

and  Holy  chyrche  is  mo^yr,  we  schulde  loue  as  brethern. 

And  sethen  God  ys  so  hygh  in  heuyn  aboue  al  his  angelys 

and  we  be  so  low  in  erthe,  wrappid  with  many  myscheuys,^ 

we  schulde  be  resoun  ^  be  meke  and  buxum  *  to  this  Lord 

and  mekely  pray  to  oure  fabyr  thatt  halwyd  be  his  name. 

So  as  his  name  ys  halowyd  nedlych  ^  in  hjnn-self, 

Se  be  his  name  halwyd  and  stedfast  in  oure  sowle 

For  when  oure  sowle  was  mad  to  lyknesse  of  the  Trinite 

Goddis  hygh  name  was  prented  thereyn. 

The  secunde  askynge  of  this  prayer  stondys  in  these  wordys 

Thy  reme  come  to  the,  in-to  the  blysse  of  heuyn. 

In  so  as  the  furste  askynge  answerys  to  the  faSyr 

so  the  secunde  askynge  answerys  to  the  sone. 

For  he  is  that  nobyl  man  that  com  down  in-to  erthe 

to  gete  hym  a  Reme,  and  sHy^  to  turne  agen. 

The  Reme  of  this  fabyr  ys  callyd  Holy  chyrche 

that  at  the  day  of  dome  schal  go  hennys  in-to  heuyn. 

The  thrydde  askynge  seyth  thus  Be  thy  wille  don 

as  yt  ys  fully  don  in  heuyn,  so  be  yt  don  in  erthe. 

And  this  thrydde  askynge  answeris  to  the  holy  Gost 

ffor  he  ys  good  loue  of  the  ffadyr  and  of  the  sone. 

And  al-thaw  these  askynges  most  nedelynge  ^  be  fulfyllyd, 

natheles  mannys  sowle  ys  lyfte  up  with  charite 

with  desyre  heyghed^  with  God,  and  that  ys  a  prayer. 

1  The  Lay  Folks'  Catechism,  etc.,  with  introduction,  notes,  glos- 
sary and  index  by  T.  F.  Simmons  and  H.  E.  Nolloth  [Early  English 
Text  Society's  publications,  orig.  [series.  No.  118,  London,   1901]. 

^  Evils,  adversities.  3  According  to  reason. 

*  Submissive.  e  Necessarily.  *  Raised  up. 

* 


228  APPENDIX 

Thus  we  seye  Blyssyd  be  God,  and  other  thyngys  that  nedis 

mot  ^  be. 
And  these  thre  askynges  arn  to  the  holy  Trinite, 
And  therfore  we  schape  oure  wordys  only  to  God. 
The  secunde  part  of  this  prayer  conteynes  foure  askyngys. 
Furst  we  preye  oure  f aSyr  thus ' 
Fadyr,  oure  eche  day  bred  gyf  us  to  day. 
And  this  may  be  wel  undirstonde  on  thre  manerys, 
as  seynt  Austyn  seyth  be  wit  of  God  almyghthy. 
Furst  we  aske  oure  bodely  fode  for  to  serue  oure  fabyr : 
after  we  aske  the  sacrament  to  haue  mende  ^  of  oure  fa^yr '. 
and  aftyrward  we  aske  Goddys  word  to  fede  with  oure  sowle. 
And  for  we  haue  nede  of  alle  these  yche  day 
therfore  Crist  callys  hem  oure  eche  day  bred. 
And  for  we  schulde  be  trewe  and  ete  oure  owne  bred 
[and  not  in  wrong  ete  our  neeghboris  breed] 
therfore  Crist  techis  us  to  aske  of  hym  oure  bred. 
And  for  Crist  wolde  that  oure  hope  were  freschyd  ^  in  hym, 
oure  thogth  and  oure  mynde  and  alle  oure  desyre, 
therfore  he  byddys  us  aske  this  mete  of  hym  to  day. 
The  secunde  part  of  this  askynge  sewyth*  in  these  wordys 
For-geve  us  our  dettys  as  we  do  to  oure  dettours. 
These  dettys  that  we  owe  to  God  are  seruyse  that  we  owe  to  hym. 
And  as  ofte  tymes  as  we  fayle  we  renne  in-to  dette  of  peyne : 
and  but  God  for-geve  us  this  dette  of  synne 
we  be  nat  worthy  to  haue  aught  of  oure  faSyr. 
And  for  God  wyl  that  we  loue  oure  bretheryn. 
He  knyttys  to  a  condicioun  undyr  whyche  we  aske  this  bone 
that  He  schulde  forgeve  us  oure  dettys  as  we  forgeve  oure 

dettowrys  : 
so  that  gif  we  be  un-mercyful  to  men  that  be  oure  dettours, 
trist  we  to  oure  fabyr  that  he  wyl  punysche  us  : 
And  so  we  praye  oure  hyghe  juge  agens  oure  owyn  hed. 
But  undirstonde  we  that  we  mowe  lefully^ 
aske  of  oure  brothern  dette  of  erthelyche  thyngys, 
but  this  askynge  mot  ^  be  in  resoun  and  charite, 
and  than  '^  yt  [is]  for  charite  and  loue    and    profyt    to    oure 

neyghebore. 

1  Must.  2  Remembrance.  3  Refreshed,  renewed. 

«  Follows.  5  May  allowably.  ^  Must.  '  Then. 


APPENDIX  229 

And  here  we  mot  fle  bothe  rancour  and  hate 

and  envye  to  oure  [neyghbore]  with  other  schrewde  castys.* 

The  thrydde  askynge  of  this  part  swyt^  in  these  wordys 

Our  fadyr,  lede  us  nat  in  temptacioun 

Soth  ^  it  is  that  Crist  was  temptyd  and  God  temptys  man  for 

loue, 
but  hard  it  ys  and  greuous  peyne  to  be  lad  in  temptacioun. 
For  whan  man  of  his  foly  in-to  myre  of  synne  fallys, 
ryght  jugement  of  God  wol  make  hym  synke  deppyr. 
And  herfore^  we  pray  hym  our  fabyr 
that  he  lede  us  nat  into  this  hardnesse  of  synne 
lest  we  come  neuer  owt. 

And  herfore  the  laste  askynge  sewyth  in  these  wordys  t 
But  gracius  fadyr  delyvere  us  fro  evyl. 
The  worst  thynge  in  this  world  is  wykkydnesse  of  synne 
sytthe  a  man  for  nothynge  schulde  wylle  to  do  synne, 
sythen  for  al  this  world  ne  noght  ther-yn  schuld  ony  man  do 

synne. 
But  sythen  sum  synnes  be  moche  werse  than  sum 
in  this  last  askynge  we  pray  del5rveraunce  of  the  werste  synne. 
The  werst  synne  ys  the  deuelys  synne, 
that  man  deyes  yn  withoute  repentaunce 
that  euyr  schal  be  punyschyd :    and  that  callys  the  gospel 
synne  agenst  the  holy  Gost. 

God  for  his  grete  mercy  kepe  us  fro  this  euyl  ^ 

and  than  schulen  we  have  euer-lastyngge  fredam.    Amen. 

1  Devices,  plots.  2  Follows.  ^  Truth. 

*  For  this  reason. 


INDEX 


Adderley,  J.  G., 

on  '  social  contrition,'  i68 
Alvarez,  Fr.  Baltazar,  31 
'  Amen,'  use  of  in  Scripture,  214 

foil. 
Andrewes,  Bp., 

on  the  Passion,  13 

on     the     connexion     of    the 
Prayer   with  the   O.T.,    64 

on  '  Our  daily  bread,'  150 

on  deliverance  from  evil,  198 
Angels,  the,  135 

the  ministry  of,  204  foil. 
Antioch,  Church  of,  49 
Apocalypse,  the,  8 
Aquinas,  St.  Thomas, 

on  definite  requests  in  prayer, 

34 

Augustine,  St., 

on  prayer  for  temporal  bless- 
ings, 38 
on    the    use    of    the    Lord's 

Prayer,  49,  50 
on  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice,  56 
on  the  equality  of  men,  68 
on  the  imitation  of  God,  69 
on  the  consequences  of  sin,  71 
on  the  presence  of  God,  88 
on  the  Church,  117 
on  '  Thy  Will  be  done,'  120 
on  Scripture,  127 
on '  In  earth  as  in  heaven,'  131, 

135 
on  Scripture  as  '  daily  bread,' 

152 


Augustine,  St.,  continued, 
on  the  spirit  of  poverty,  153 
on  self-conquest,  183 
on  Satan,  184 
on  '  Deliver  us  from  evil,'  192, 

199 
on  the  uses  of  adversity,  203 
on  the  ministry  of  angels,  208 

Baker,  Fr.  Augustine, 

on  Prayer,  30 

on  Satan,  193 
Baptism,  ceremonial  of,  49,  77 
Basil,  St.,  quoted,  142 
Benedict,  St.,  rule  of,  50 
Bernard,  St.,  quoted,  36 

on  conversion,  130 

on  evil,  197 
Bible,  the, 

its  view  of  the  world,  127 

see  '  Scripture  ' 
Bidding  Prayer,  the,  51 
Bonaventura,  St.,  quoted,  192 
Browning,  R.,  quoted,  181 
Burkitt,  Prof., 

on      Christ's      eschatological 
teaching,  114 
Butler,  Bp., 

on  resignation,  121 

on  forgiveness,  171 

Calvin,  J.,  149,  157 
Care,  evil  of,  143 
Channing,  W.  E., 

on  the  divine  Fatherhood,  75 


281 


232 


INDEX 


Character,  the  standard  of,  i66 

Chase,  Bp., 

on  '  Our  daily  bread,'  140 
on  '  Forgive  us,'  etc.,  156 

Christ, 

prayer  of  in  John  xvii.  2 
His  life  of  dependence,  6 
of    temptation     and     con- 
flict, 8 
His  work  in  the  world,  10 
the  example  of  prayer,  15 
teaching  on  prayer,  17  foU.,  35 
on  right  thoughts  of  God,  73 
the  Giver  of  the  Spirit,  73 
manifesting  the  name  of  God, 

83 
principles  proclaimed  by,  112 
Eschatology  of,  113  foil, 
fulfilling  God's  will,  128 
exhibiting  the  ideal  of  Man- 
hood, 128 
heavenliness  of,  136 
care  for  human  needs,  144 
temptation  of,  185 
the  Deliverer  from  evil,  200 
His  use  of  the  word  '  Amen,' 

214  foil, 
the  Revealer  of  God,  218 

Chrysostom,  St., 

on   the   equality  of  men,   68 
on  the  word  '  Father,'  72 
on  the  battle  of  life,  177 
on  the  Doxology,  210 

Church,  the, 

inherits  Israel's  calling,  85 
idea  of,  95 
unity  of,  95 

City,  problems  of  the  modern, 
no 

Civilization,  defects  of  modern, 

133 
Clarke,    the    Rev.    W.    K.    L., 

quoted,  195 
Clement  of  Rome,  quoted,  90,  171 


Competentes,  49 

Competition,  the  spirit  of,  133 

Congreve,  Fr.  G., 
on  Prayer,  43 
on  Christian  Life,  216 

Conversion,  prayer  for,  129 

Copleston,  Bp., 

on  British  rule  in  India,  91 

Corporate  life,  function  of,   132 

Cyprian,  St.,  48,  90,  135,  143,  149 
on  the  '  Kingdom,'  106 
on  '  Thy  will  be  done,'  120 
on  Christ's  revelation  of  God's 
will,  127 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  135,  149 

'  Daily  Bread,  our,'  meaning  of, 
140 

teaching  implied  in  the  prayer 
for,  142  foil. 
Dante,  quoted,  138,  202 
Dependence,   the   spirit  of,    142 
de  Sacramentis,  the, 

evidence  of,  59 
Didache,  the 

evidence  of,  48 
Diognetus,  Epistle  to,  quoted,  70 
Disciplina  arcani,  49 
Doxology  of  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
209 

its  teaching,  211  foil. 

Eastern  rites, 

use  of  Lord's  Prayer  in,  54 
Edmund,  St.,    Abp.  of  Canter- 
bury, 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  26 
'El,     'Elohim,     'El   'Elyon,     'El 

Shaddai,  78,  79 
Embolism,  the,  57,  59 
Eschatological  teaching  of  Christ, 
113  foil, 
how      understood      by      the 
Church,  116 


INDEX 


233 


Eucharist,  the,  89,  149 
the  daily,  149,  150  note 
a  Father's  gift,  151 

Evil,  the  meaning  of,   194  foil. 

'  Evil  one,  the,'  184,  192  foil, 
his  power  of  suggestion,  186 
Christian  doctrine  respecting, 
195 

Faith,  130 

Father,  the  title  of, 

encourages  confidence,  66 
faith  in  God's  impartial  love, 

67 
a  call  to  imitation,  69 

and  to  repentance,  72 
implies  moral  governance,  71 
the  object  of  worship,  75 
Fatherhood,  the  divine, 

doctrine  of  in  Jewish  theology, 

60 
as  taught  by  Christ,  61  foil. 
a  new  revelation,  62 
connexion   with   other    divine 

attributes,  64 
ideas  suggested  by,  64,  65 
implies  equality  of  all  men,  68 
and  the  fact  of  vocation,  68 
in   relation  to  penitence  and 
atonement,  164,  165 
Forgiveness,  divine, 
conditions  of,  169  foil, 
effects  of,  172  foil. 
Freeman,  Archdeacon, 

on  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
51 

Gethsemane,  4 

Gibson,  Bp.  Alan,  quoted,  147 

'  Glory,'    the    meaning    of,    213 

God, 

the  Name  of,  76 
manifested  in  Christ,  83,  218 
the  Kingdom  of,  96,  212 


God,  continued, 
the  character  of, 

implied  in  the  Lord's  Prayer, 

25,  28 
revealed  to  Moses  in  Exod. 
xxxiv.,  81 
revealing  His  will  in  Nature, 
Conscience     and     History, 
124  foil. 
His  relation  to  sin,  160,  164 
the  providence  of,  205 
Gore,  Bp., 

on  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice,  55 
Gregory  I,  Bp.  of  Rome, 

on  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  the  Eucharist,  53 
Gregory  of  Nyssa, 

on  the  divine  nature,  94 

on    the    third    clause   in    the 

Lord's  Prayer,  105 
on  '  Our  daily  bread,'  148 
on  the  duty  of  forgiveness,  170 

Harnack,  Prof.  A.,  quoted,  143 

'  Heaven,' 

what  the  word  suggests,  69,  70 
'  as  in  heaven,'  135,  136 

Hill,  G.  Chatterton, 

on  the  mission  of  the  Church, 
no 

History,  sacredness  of,  93 

Hogg,  Prof.  A.  G., 

on  the  divine  Fatherhood,  62 
on  the  Kingdom  of  God,  99 

Hooker,  R.,  quoted,  139,  201 

'  Hours,  the  canonical,'  50 

Huxley,  Prof.  T.  H.,  quoted,  133 

Ignatius,  St.,    Bp.    of    Antioch, 

quoted,  134,  167 
Incarnation,  the,  and  Nature,  92 
India,  British  rule  in,  91 
Individualism,  133 
Irenaeus,  quoted,  107,  117 


234 


INDEX 


Jehovah,  the  name,  79 

proclaimed  to  Moses,  80 
Jerome,     St.,     on    '  Our     daily 

bread,'  149 
Jerusalem,  Church  of,  49 
Jews,   prayer  for  conversion  of 

the,  118 
Job,  Book  of,  180,  190 
Judith,  Book  of,  180 
Julian  of  Norwich,    on    prayer, 

137 

Justin  Martyr,  152 


Ken,  Bp.  T., 
on  the  word  '  Father,'  74 
on  thanksgiving,  217 

Kingdom  of  God,  the, 
in  Christ's  teaching,  96 
in  Jewish  thought,  98,  100,  105 
embodied  in  Christ's  Person,  99 


'  Lesser  Litany,  the,'  51 

Life,  eternal,  106 

Litany,  the,  201 

Lord's  Prayer,  the, 
two  versions  of,  i 
taught  in  Gethsemane  (?),  4 
connexion  with  Christ's  work, 

10 
relation  to  His  Passion,  12 
significance  of  the  title,  21 
the  '  prayer  of  brotherhood,' 

23 
sufficiency  of,  26 
relation  to  O.T.  teaching,  44 
idea  of  God  implied  in,  29 
relation  to  Jewish  formularies, 

46 
called  oraiio  fidelium,  49 
use  of  in  Baptism,  49 
and  in  Daily  Offices,  50,  51 
method  of  recital,  52 


Lord's  Prayer,  continued, 

use  in  the  Liturgy,  52  foil.,  58 
solemn  preface  to,  56,  57 
Embolism  at  the  close  of,  57 
excludes  all  selfishness,  74 
versions     of,     Greek,     Latin, 
Anglo-Saxon    and    English, 
219  foil, 
exposition    of   in    Lay    Folks 

Catechism,  227 
the    Doxology    appended    to, 
209  foil. 
Luke,  Gospel  of  St., 

his     version     of     the     Lord's 

Prayer,  i,  219 
on  the  prayers  of  Christ,  4 
Lutheran  Catechism,  the,  150 

Manna,  the,  143 
Martyn,  H.,  quoted,  147 
Mason,  Dr.  A.  J.,  quoted,  186 
Materialism,  154 
Matthew,  Gospel  of  St., 

version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
I,  46,  219 
'  Mercy  and  Truth,'  82 
Messiah,  Jewish  idea  of  the,  98 
Mill,  Dr.  W.  H., 

on  Christ's  temptation,  185 
Moberly,  W.  H.,  quoted,  139 

Name  of  God,  the,  76 

how  to  be  '  hallowed,'  85  foil. 
Names  of  God,  Hebrew,  78 
Nature  in  the  light  of  the  Incar- 
nation, 92 
Hebraic  conception  of,  124 
witness  of  to  God,  125 
Newman,  Card.,  quoted,  215 
Nicholson,  Bp.,  quoted,  150 
Nocturns,  49 

Offices,  daily,  in  early  Church,  49 


INDEX 


235 


Origen,  136,  181, 

on  *  Our  daily  bread,'  140 

on  sin  as  a  debt,  157 

on    the    prayers    of    the    de- 
parted, 202 
Orleans,  Third  Council  of,  50 

Paton,  John,  quoted,  108 
Paul,  St.,  at  Rome,  31 
Pearson,  Bp.,  quoted,  90 
Penitence,   meaning  of,   72,   73, 
130 

prayer  for,  102 

the  spirit  of,  164,  166,  169  foil. 

need  of  corporate,  167 
Perseverance,  secret  of,  91,   137 

prayer  for,  135 
Peter  Chrysologus, 

on  the  Kingdom  of  God,  97, 
107 

on  forgiveness,  174 

on  deliverance  from  evil,  208 
Polycarp,  St.,  134,  171 
Poverty,  enjoined  on  all,  153 
'  Power,'  ascribed  to  God,  212 
Practice    of     Christianity,     The, 

quoted,  113 
Prayer, 

Christ's  teaching  on,  17  foil. 

aids  to,  19 

for  others,  22 

in  Christ's  '  Name,'  18 

place  in  religion  of,  29 

definition  of,  30,  137 

a  faculty  needing    discipline, 
32 

its  nature,  converse,  32 

the  form  it  takes,  petition,  33 

rationale  of,  34 

subjective  effect  of,  36 

objective  results  of,  37 

for  temporal  blessings,  38  foil. 

for  rain,  etc.,  40 

teaching  of  experience  on,  42 


Prayer,  continued, 

a  following  of  Christ,  43 

object  of,  131 

an  aid  in  temptation,  189 

significance  of,  212,  213 
Prayer  Book,  the,  of  1549,  51,  52, 
54 

of  1552,  55 
Prophecy,  Hebrew,  126 
Puritans,  the,  201 

Quignon  Breviary,  the,  51 

Rashdall,  Dr.  H.,  quoted,  145 
Religion,  meaning  of,  27 
Repentance  :   see  '  Penitence  ' 
Revelation  of  God  in  O.T., 

progressiveness  of,  78 
Rites,  Eucharistic, 

of  Abyssinian  Jacobites,  55 

Coptic  Jacobites,  57,  140,  167, 
201 

Galilean,  55 

Nestorian,  55,  57 

Roman,  57 

St.  James   (Syrian),  56 

St.  Mark  (Egyptian),  57 

Sarum,  54,  57 

Salvation,  meaning  of,  107 
Sarapion,  liturgy  of,  quoted,  83, 

107,  151 
Satan  :    see  '  Evil  one,  the  ' 
Scripture,    the  soul's  food,   152 
Shaddai,  79 

Shemoneh  '  Esreh,  the,  88 
Simon  of  Ghent,  Bp.,  quoted,  175 
Simplicity,  the  temper  of,   145, 

146,  216 
Sin,  consequences  of,  71 
meaning  of,  123,  157,  166 
has  its  seat  in  the  will,    186 
modern  ideas  of,  158 
Scriptural  view  of,  t6o 
penalties  of,  172 


236 


INDEX 


Spenser,  Edm.,    on   the   angels, 

207 
Spirit,  the  Holy,  prayer  for,  106 

bestows  conviction  of  sin,  165 
State,  the,  133 

Submission  to  God's  will,  121 
Suffering,  function  of,  122 
Swami  Ram  Tirath, 

on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  155 

Temptation,  of  Christ,  8,  185 

sources  of,  180  foil. 

how  to  meet,  188  foil. 

psychology  of,  190 
Tertullian,   135,   156,   169 

on  prayer,  33,  42 

on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  48,  50 

on  '  Thy  will  be  done,'  120 

on  '  Our  daily  bread,'  149 
Thanksgiving,  the  habit  of,  88, 

217 
Trench,  Abp.,  Poems  of,  quoted, 

36 
Trinity,    doctrine   of   the,    re- 
vealed by  Christ,  86 
Truthfulness,  duty  of,  93 


Unity  of  the  Church,  95 

Vocation, 

prayer  concerning,  134 

Weston,   Bp.   F.,  on  prayer,  31 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  Poems  of,  quoted, 

25,  146 
Will  of  God,  the, 

revealed  in  Nature,  124 

in  reason  and  conscience,  126 

in  history,  126 

in  Scripture,  127 

in  Christ,  127 
Will,  dedication  of  the,  89,  130 
Wilson,  Bp.  T.,  quoted,  73,  103 

Archdeacon    J.     M.,     on   the 
idea  of  a  Church,  95 
Wisdom,  the  gift  of,  182 
Wordsworth,  W.,  quoted,  10 
Worldliness,    meaning    of,    123, 

183 
Worship  of  God  as  Father,   75 

the  spirit  of,  87,  88,  217 

elements  of,  87,  89 


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